Times of Separation
by Distance
Summary: Post-Meteor: [Ch. 18 up] Lucrecia and Reeve are both missing. Someone's been stealing from the Hojo's Lab. Nothing Short of Tragic R/R!
1. Missing Persons Report

Disclaimer: I don't own any of FFVII's characters or places, but I do have a shiny watch!

A/N: This being my first fan-fic, combined with the fact that I haven't played the game in a good long while, means characters might be a bit OOC. If it gets to bad, yell at me.

****

Prolog: Missing Persons Report

Two words would always greet Vincent when he went to visit Lucrecia. 

"Get Out." 

He never understood why she said that to him every week. Didn't she love him? She used to. Did she blame him? She never used to. In his days with her in Nibelheim, she would always reassure him that what was happening to her wasn't his fault. She wanted it all, in the name of science. What had changed?

__

She's finally done it.... she's finally realized that I'm a monster...

He never understood why he kept returning to her, every week. Did he love her? Possibly. He used to, that's for sure. He loved her more than his mind could handle. But what about now? Had her constant rejection finally affected him? No, rejection no longer phased him. No, he no longer felt the love he felt those three decades ago because monsters couldn't love. Back then, he still had some part of a man living inside him, but no longer. Hojo had made certain that Vincent was a full-fledged monster back in Nibelheim.

Nevertheless, Vincent always returned, just like today. The mountain climb was no longer a challenge to him after the months of visiting her. Months? Maybe years. After Cid had dropped him off a month after the destruction of Meteor, Vincent lost all perception of time. At first he would try to count his weekly visits to tell him what time of year it was, but he gave up. He didn't care. Now he wasn't even sure if his visits were weekly anymore. 

But that didn't matter. Lucrecia's health was fading. Vincent didn't know what illness had befallen her; she never told him her symptoms and never permitted him to come close enough to examine her. He would return to her with various items for her to use at her disposal - hi-potions, antidotes, hypers, etc. He had let her die once already, he would not fail her again.

His mind traveled back in time as he entered her hidden cavern, as it always did. He recalled a fairly young Turk. His pale white face was framed with short ebony hair. In his arms the Turk held a short scientist. Her glasses didn't hide her understated beauty well. With her hand in his, she would look up into his eyes and speak those four words he longed to hear.

__

"I love you, Vincent..."

Vincent's head was suddenly cleared of the memory, just like it always was when he walked in Lucrecia's cave. Usually, before his mind could conjure up those four sweet words, two harsh ones would take their place. Those words never came; that is what shook Vincent out of his reverie this time. As much as he wished Lucrecia would refrain from telling him to "get out," now he longed for her to speak those words to him. He longed for her to speak _any_ words to him.

"Lucrecia?"

The only response Vincent received was his own voice echoing back at him. Lucrecia was gone.

****************

"I'd like to start things off today by extending a heartfelt thank you to all of you. You, the citizens of Midgar, have been the key to this project. Without _all _of your efforts, no matter how big or how small, I would not be able to stand before you today doing what I'm doing. But now, thanks to you, I am here with a shovel in my hand, ready to break ground for Neo-Midgar! A Midgar without Mako! A Midgar without plates! A new Midgar - our new home!" 

Towards the end of his speech, President Reeve couldn't contain his excitement. On the other end of the makeshift stage, Reno couldn't contain his boredom. In one short year, the Turks, _his_ Turks had been turned into nothing more than bodyguards for the president and a clean up crew. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy helping his president. Over the past year, he managed to see Reeve for what he truly is. Reeve wasn't the backstabbing AVALANCHE terrorist Reno thought he was. He had helped Cloud and his friends because, in the long run, it was in the best interests of Midgar. And Reno, like most children of the slums, had always loved their city. They weren't like the higher-ups on the plate that took Midgar's graces for granted. Reno never cared much for Shinra, Inc., but he had nothing but respect for Midgar.

No, Reno didn't dislike his new President, or the Turks' new purposes, but he disliked speeches and _hated_ cleaning, which is just what he, along with everyone else in the city, had been doing for the past year. With Reeve being virtually the only surviving Shinra executive, therefore making him heir to the Shinra "throne," he could finally put into action his ideas for the Neo-Midgar he dreamed up so many years ago. It was a clean, happy Midgar, unlike the Neo-Midgar envisioned by the former presidents. So, for the past year, the President, the Turks, and the citizens of Midgar have been cleaning out the rubble left in the wake of Meteor. Now it was time to rebuild. 

Surprisingly, everything went off without a hitch and a quiet, peaceful night followed the ceremonies. Reno had been on guard the whole time. Despite him leaving his spying days behind him, he was still a Turk; he had his eyes and ears on everyone. In the past few months he could feel a bit of unrest within some of the citizens. Talk of rebellion started a few weeks ago. Most of the talk came from former plate dwellers, unhappy that they had been put to work. But Reno had his doubts.

__

They're too stupid to organize a rebellion. They were always just pawns in the fat-bastard's chess game of power. But who's controlling the pieces now?

"Reno!" The Turk nearly fell out of his chair with surprise as Reeve came running practically over the door of the makeshift shanty that served as a temporary home for the Turks.

Reno took his chance to get a few words in while the President was waiting for his breath to return. "Who lit your panties on fire, Reevey-poo?"

"There's a fight! A big one. Some little squabble blown out of proportion..." Reno was about to ask whether or not he really thought stopping a fight was worth a Turk's time, before Reeve stumbled over his next words. "And Elena... she got separated from Rude when they went in. I don't know if she's hurt, but the crowd doesn't seem too friendly to her."

Reno nearly knocked Reeve down as he darted out of the door. He honestly wasn't surprised, he knew something would happen. He wasn't all that shocked that Elena was caught in the middle. Over the year she had become somewhat of President Reeve's right hand "man." But, just because he had expected something like this to happen didn't mean he wasn't royally pissed.

With attack rod extended (but not charged, thankfully), he made his way into the crowd. Without care for who was in his way, he beat and pushed his way towards his downed partner. A man stood in front of the huddled form of Elena yelling to the crowd. Reno didn't hesitate to take down the instigator. Electricity coursed through the tall man's veins as Reno discharged his rod into the man's ribcage. With the leader fallen, another man, about Reno's height and build stepped up, but was quickly subdued when Reno shot him his patented Don't-Fuck-With-A-Turk glare.

A smile crept across Reno's face as he heard the nervous, fearful whispers spread through the quickly diminishing group. Behind him Rude bent down to pick up Elena, who was clutching her ankle. 

"Brake a heal, 'Lena?" Elena quietly responded with _her_ patented glare - the I-Hate-You-Reno. "What's that sour face for, babe? C'mon, let's go wrap that thing up." He patted her dangling shin, being sure not to hurt her ankle further, before heading back to where he had left Reeve.

__

Did I leave the door open? I didn't think so. Maybe Reeve opened it? It does get a little warm in there sometimes. That Reeve, he always...

Reno thoughts were cut short by a surprised yell from Elena's lips. "Damn, Laney. Is Rude feeling you up back there?" Suddenly, Reno let out a lower yell to match Elena's. Between his legs, a trail of blood lead out the opened door. "Reeve?!"

A/N: Sorry to leave you all hanging like that. Please review, so I know whether I should commit this little story in my head to writing, or just leave it. Don't worry, AVALANCHE will their appearances soon enough...


	2. One Long Night

Disclaimer: Me no own.

A/N: Thanks to Reno Spiegel for the words of encouragement. Yay! That means that at least one person has read this.

****

Chapter 2: One Long Night

Reno stood, attack rod extended, in front of the old Shinra building with an uncharacteristically angry scowl painted across his face, resembling a guard ready to attack. "What the fuck are _you_ doing here?"

Cloud simply folded his arms, waiting for Reno to calm down. He wasn't about to be frightened by the Turk when he had almost all of AVALANCHE backing him up, all except Vincent, Cid and, of course, Reeve. "Elena told us to come."

"She did _what_?!?" Reno stomped over to Elena, who was standing motionless a few feet behind him. Grabbing tightly on to her arm, he began his questions. "Just what in the hell are you trying to do here, 'Lena? Do you think just because that silver-hared freak is gone, we can become friends with these terrorists? Do you not think the Turks can handle this?" Seemingly, he wasn't all that interested in her answers; he never gave her a change to get a word in. His tirade came to a halt only when he saw the painful grimace on her face. He didn't realize how tight his grip was on her.

After successfully twisting her arm out of Reno's hand, Elena summed up the answers to all of her superior's questions with one statement. "Reeve was a member of AVALANCHE as much as he was a part of Shinra."

Oddly enough, it seemed Elena had actually won an argument with Reno. After a silent exchange with Rude (he never could bring himself to take action unless his partner was behind his decision), the red headed Turk turned back to Cloud. "Fine then, Blondie. You and your lackies can tag along, but if you get in my way, I'll have the cook at the mess hall serve you as lunch tomorrow. The Chocobo Stew's been getting bland lately."

Reno led his two companions, along with the 5 tag-alongs, into the lobby of the decrepit Shinra building. He certainly wasn't pleased to have such a big crew searching through the building. The power to Midgar was put out of commission by Meteor. No power meant no elevators. No elevators meant 8 people crowded onto a very long set of unstable stairs. Things could get ugly. _Especially with that mammoth Barret…_

Besides Cloud, who received the call from Elena, and Tifa, who was standing next to him at the time, no other AVALANCHE member really knew what was going on, other than the fact that Reeve was AWOL. It was only a matter of time before someone spoke up.

Yuffie hopped her way up to the front of the crowd and fell into pace along side Cloud. "So, oh fearless leader, what's up?"

Barret didn't hesitate to chime in after her. "Yeah. What da HELL we doin in dis damn place?" The big man looked around the lobby of the Shinra building from his spot on the stairs. He hated the sight of this place before, but now, with broken glass, fallen plaster and chucks of brick decorating the area, he almost feared it.

Cloud's response started with his characteristic shrug. "Elena told us that there was some commotion around here three days before Reeve disappeared."

As if on cue, Elena fell back with the group and explained the situation. "You see, a few months after the fall of Midgar, Reeve was being a little paranoid and had us set up this battery powered security system for the building. The higher floors still have a lot of important and possibly dangerous stuff in them, but it would've been too dangerous to send anyone up to start a clean-up. He wanted us to set up these sensors that would alter us to any activity in the building until we had a change to rent some equipment and safely clean out the building."

"So something set one of the sensors off, right?" Tifa asked the question she already knew the answer to. Elena had already told her this over the phone, but she was tired of not talking.

"Right. When we went to check it out, we didn't find anything. None of us thought much of it. There are still come creatures around here, leftovers from Hojo's lab. Nothing big enough to get worked up over, but certainly big enough to trigger the security system."

"But now you think it could be connected?"

"Yup." Reno abruptly cut in. Despite his laid back tone, he wasn't at all pleased at how readily Elena was give out information to these terrorists. "So, now that you know, shut up and save your breath. We got a lot of walking to do."

And Reno was dead serious. A silence hung over the group for a long time until, thirty or so flights of stairs and five tons of debris later, Reno, coming to a stop, spoke up again. "End of the line folks. Walk another ten feet up, and those sturdy ol' stairs won't hesitate to send you right back down to where you came from."

Rude led the way off the stairs onto the thirty-first floor. Almost immediately, all three Turks began to search the area for something. Back by the stairs, Cloud just scratched his head. "Uh, Reno. What exactly are we looking for?"

_And this is the guy that led these freaks to defeat Sephiroth? _"Spike, use your head. There's nothing useful to anyone until you hit the 60th floor or so. That means whoever the hell was in here the other day had to have made it past here. They would've died before making it to the 32nd floor if they stayed on the stairs and the elevator is –"

"Reno!" Rude broke his silence to alert his leader of his rather interesting discovery. Reno ran over to find his fellow Turk standing in front of an open elevator door.

"What in the hell? I sat here for half an hour last month pounding that goddamn elevator button after I walked my ass up here! What'd you do?" The redhead couldn't bring himself to tear his amazed gaze away from the opened elevator

The quiet Rude submitted his simple answer. "Someone's turned the power back on."

"Well, thank you captain obvious!" A young ninja squeezed her way through the bodies now crowded around the elevator and hopped in. _Thank Leviathan, no more stairs._ "Well, what's the hold up, get in!"

"Watch out, brat." With a hand on her shoulder, Reno easily moved Yuffie out of the way. "There are 8 people here – we'll be road kill if we all get on here." The three Turks made their way onto the elevator. With the doors closing, Reno issued his instructions. "Do whatever you want Spikey, but I'd suggest splitting up. No more than three people on the elevator at a time, if ya know what's good for ya."

"Damn! Dis places gives me da hibbie gibbies! Why da hell did we hafta come here?! You home sick or some shit?"

Red's only response to Barret's question was a low snarl followed by the taping of his claws on the cold marble floor. They hadn't even been searching Hojo's lab for a full five minutes, and already his companion was complaining. _This is going to be a long night…_

Suddenly, Red was jerked out of his reverie by a stench he knew too well. "Do you smell that?"

One large hand and on large gun-arm shot into the air in frustration. "Hell no I don't smell nothin'! Do I look like a dog to you?" Crossing his arms, he stomped a bit further into the lab

Silently sniffing both the air and the floor around them, the canine confirmed his suspicions. "It's blood… human blood." After smelling the air a bit more, Red continued both speaking and walking. "It's still fresh. Barely even dry yet. Someone's been here."

"Well, no shi –" Barret clamped his mouth shut at what his eyes caught a glimpse of. On the third stair leading up to the second level of Hojo's massive lab, a bloody hand print stood out on the otherwise clean metal.

Cloud's frustration rose as he slammed closed another drawer on the massive desk. "Nothing here." With a feeling of defeat in his chest, the blond slumped back into the large leather chair beside him. He, Tifa and Yuffie had made their ways up to the President's office. After Rufus took control of Shinra, he converted his father's luxurious office into a psuedo-storage room. All important files that he didn't think anyone should be getting their hands on were moved in. He knew how tight Shinra security was on the top floor of his father's gigantic tower, but now Cloud and his allies had no trouble barging right in.

"Nothing here either, Cloud." Tifa's tone was perky, but she couldn't help but feel just as frustrated as her leader, though she wouldn't show it. She always took it upon herself to be a shiny light of happiness in the face of despair, and from the looks of it, it was gong to be a very challenging road through this building. _This is going to be a long night…_

"Hmph! Stupid Shinra…" Yuffie was mumbling under her breath as she rummaged through a nearby filing cabinet. _Gawd, this is boring! That spikey-headed jerk makes me come down as fast I can all the way from Wutai for this?! To get paper cuts snooping through Shinra's trash?? Hmmm, maybe they'll have some information on some super-rare materia they made. Yeah, yeah! Materia that no one knows about and would be worth millions! _Yuffie was so involved with her own internal conversation they she barely realized that she was still mumbling aloud. "What a bunch of do-do brains…"

Tifa's eyebrow raise in half interest/half confusion. "What's wrong, Yuffie?"

"Hmm? Oh, right! It's just that I thought this Jeneva project thingy was supposed to be some big important deal."

Cloud immediately rose from his seat with palms planted on the desk in front of him. It's safe to say the ninja's words had caught his attention. "It was a very important thing, Yuffie. _Very_ important."

"Well it certainly doesn't look that way to me. The little Jeneva do-hickie's folder is empty." Yuffie waved the empty folder triumphantly in the air proving herself right.

Needless to say, Elena was a little disgruntled after the reprimanding she received from Reno when they hit the storage rooms.

_"What the hell's wrong with you, Laney?! Do you know what they call what you did? INSUBORDINATION! You went behind my back and told our enemies what we were doing. And out of ALL of our enemies you had to call that spikey headed bastard!?"_

Elena ignored her fear for the man yelling at her and defended herself. "Look, Reeve is just as much their ally as he is ours. They had a right to know. And they're not even our enemies anymore!"

Two hands, one gripping a retracted attack rod, flew into the air. "Not our enemies?!? Need I remind you that they are terrorists out to put an end to Shinra? Well, guess what, sister. Reeve is the President of Neo-SHINRA! And I'll give it to you that Reeve is their ally. Yeah, you did the right thing by letting them know he's in danger, blah blah blah. But you didn't have to tell them where we would be and when we'd be there. How do you know he wouldn't have sunk that big-ass sword of his in one of our backs?"

This time, anger flared in Elena's eyes. "It's called TRUST, Reno! Something you obviously don't know anything about."

"Turks trust Turks, 'Lena." Reno's voice was cool and calm, all the anger subsided. His temper suddenly relinquished its hold on him. His anger had been replaced by a slight feeling of disappointment. He couldn't help but think to himself "she still doesn't get it."

Elena scanned the walls looking for something amiss. Well, at least that's what her body was doing. Her mind was too busy brooding and holding on to the anger she had for Reno. _Why does he always have to embarrass me like that?_

"Hey Laney, that paint's not goin' anywhere. Feel free to check somewhere else anytime now."

_That's it!_ Reno's last comment sent Elena off the deep end. Reeve was missing, her ankle hurt like all hell, she was stuck in this run-down building, and Reno wouldn't stop hassling her. This was _not_ the night to mess with her. Fists clenched, she made her way next to Reno, but before she could deliver her blow, a strong hand fell onto her shoulder. Rude was always there to stop her from doing something she'd regret, and, despite the glare she shot him, she was grateful for it. As much as she wanted to clock the red headed bastard, she knew if she did, Reno would make sure she'd be on dish duty at the mess hall for the next year. _This is going to be a long night…_

Reno could careless about Elena's feelings at the moment; he was on to something, but he wanted to make certain to confirm his suspicions before alerting his fellow Turks. He checked every room on the 63rd floor and found the same thing. "Does anyone else notice little red lights everywhere?" Elena and Rude were both silent - Elena because she thought her leader was losing his mind, and Rude because, well, he's Rude. "Well, kiddies, I do. They're on the security cameras."

"Wait a second." Elena's silence was broken when the realization came that Reno was on to something, rather than off his rocker. "Didn't we double check the cameras when we came in the other day?"

"You're damn right we did, and the filthy buggers weren't on, because we had no fucking power!" Reno's attack rod was tapping aimlessly on his outer thigh as his mind put the pieces together.

Rude's deep voice boomed in, stating aloud the next step in the thought process. "That means whoever broke in here did it after Reeve was kidnapped."

With one finger thoughtfully stroking the scar along his cheek, Reno made his way back to the elevator. "Hmmm. They probably tried to get in here the other day when the alarm was set off, couldn't get past the 31st floor, then took the President. They needed him to restore power to the building. He's the only one who knew the access codes to the back up generator." _Fuck! No alarm went off between last night and now. That means that they figured out how to disarm the security system. And THAT means they know we're here looking for them._

By the time the elevator door slid open with a chime, the three were ready to leave. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this, Reno."

A comforting hand rested on Elena's shoulder. Oddly enough, it was Reno's. She figured it was his strange way of apologizing after verbally berating her earlier. "I feel it too, Laney. But don't worry. We Turks might have "cleaned up our acts", so to speak, in the past year or so, but we still aren't a bunch of push-overs." Instantly, Reno's mind shifted from his comrade to the task at hand. "We'll head over to the surveillance room, pick up the tapes from last night and today, then find those terrorist idiots and see what they found."

A/N: Maybe I should re-title this "One Long Chapter." I'm about 1000 or so words over my mark. Oh well. Fear not, we'll be graced once again by the presence of Vincent Valentine once again in a chapter or two. Please review. I'll love you if you do. (Hey, that rhymed! "I'm a poet and I didn't even know it.")


	3. Naughty Videos

Disclaimer: Square owns me… oh, and they've got all this FFVII stuff under their control too

****

Chapter 3: Naughty Videos

If there were still any inhabitants in the ruins of Midgar, they would have been woken up by the raucous that poured out into the streets of old Midgar from the lobby of the abandoned Shinra building. It was a loud, confusing mess. Even those involved weren't really sure whose side they were on.

"Tifa?! What do you think your doing inviting _them_ into our home?!"

"Hey, who are you calling '_them_' you blonde hared freak?!"

"Reno! Didn't you just get mad at me for _talking_ to them?"

"So what?"

"So now you're ready to waltz in and stay at their place?"

"Cloud, they need to use our VCR!"

"Hold on, all dis damn arguin's over a fuckin VCR?!?"

"GAWD! I came all they way from Wutai for this?"

"Quit whining, brat!"

"I'm sure Reno can find another VCR to use!"

"Stop calling me a brat!!"

"Who keeps stepping on my tail?"

_Fifteen minutes later…_

Reno sat behind the controls of the Turks' personal helicopter. The first ten or so airborne minutes passed quietly, thanks to Rude. He made sure Reno was up front flying while Elena was in the back seat. He hated playing the baby sitter for those two, but it was better than hearing them bicker constantly. They had both promised the tall man to not speak to each other until they got to Kalm unless they had something constructive to say. His eyebrow raised in suspicion as Elena broke the silence.

"So, Reno, why exactly are we going to Kalm?" Rude was about to quiet Elena down, but was cut off when Reno issued a surprisingly amicable response.

"We need to watch these tapes. The VCR in the lounge in the Shinra building was fucked up even before Meteor trashed the place. These tapes might be the only clue we have to who took Reeve – we don't need them getting eaten by a bitchy VCR. So, since the Shinra building is the only place in Midgar that has power, the next closest VCR is at Tifa's bar thingy in Kalm." Reno rotated slightly in his pilots seat and flashed Elena a winning smile. "Don't worry, Laney. I'm just using Tifa for her 'equipment.' You know you're the only one for me."

The only thing that kept Elena from kicking the red head right out of his seat (other than the fact that they're probably plummet to the ground and die) was her fear of Rude's reaction. The big Turk seemed happy enough with her that she controlled herself this long and she didn't want to let him down. "Don't you think it's a bad idea to just leave Midgar? It's kind of an important time for everyone."

"Which is why we need to act as fast as possible. 'Lena, we have no use in the reconstruction of Midgar without Reeve. We're Turks, not city planners. Lieutenant Palermo knows enough about what Reeve had planned, and he has the authority to act them out. He'll head things up just fine until we get back with the President."

The present members of AVALANCHE were all scattered about the main room of the Tranquillity, Tifa's new bar/inn in Kalm. Cid, who arrived just in time to see Cloud and company coming back from Midgar, and Barret sat across from each other at a table near the center of the room playing a game of cards (and occasionally yelling out an expletive or two). Tifa stood behind her bar, aimlessly wiping the already clean counter. Marlene stood on a nearby stool mimicking her favorite "aunt's" movements. Cloud leaned casually against a wall near the bar with his arms folded across his chest. He seemed to have come to terms with the Turks coming over, seeing how his face was painted with a smile as he watched Tifa and Marlene go at it with the bar. Red rested peacefully on the floor near Cloud's feet, occasionally bumped his slowly swaying tail accidentally on Cloud's legs. All in all, it was a pretty peaceful scene, until your eyes strayed over to Yuffie's corner of the room.

The young ninja figgeted anxiously in her chair. She could feel _something_ was going to happen, but she was tired of waiting. Boredom had taken control of her. _GAWD these guys are so dull! Were they this boring before? The only people doing anything are Barret and Cid, the two old geezers! At least that stupid statue vampire man isn't here. Why does everyone I know have to be so lame? And where the hell is Cait when you need him?_ Lost in her thoughts, Yuffie made her way to a chair next to Cid. "So, gramps, what the hell took you so long to get here?"

Cid didn't even take his eyes off the cards before him. Barret had beaten him the last three games, but this one would be his! "Quit buggin' me, ya little pest! You're gonna fuck me up!"

"Hmph! What's wrong, old man? Can't ya talk to a lil girl 'n' play at da same time?" It's very sad when Barret can successfully psyche you out with mind games.

_Little pest?! I'll show you a little pest! _ She was about to grab the pilots goggles and rub them under her arms (which were in need of some "refreshing" after running around all day), when Red's fiery tail caught her eye. "What's up, puppy?" Yuffie happily hopped over to her canine friend and scratched behind his ears. The only response given was a low growl – Red hated being treated like a dog.

Hopping up onto the closest barstool, Yuffie turned her attention to Cloud. "Ya know, messy-head, I still have no clue what's going on here." It was true. All she knew was that Cloud told her something about Reeve being gone and that she had to make it to Kalm ASAP. She wasn't even sure what just took place back in Midgar. _I really need to start paying attention more. Ooo, cookies!_ Yuffie was so distracted by the jar of cookies on the corner of the counter, she didn't even here Cid agreeing with her.

"Yeah, Spike. I just got here. What the hell's goin' on?"

Luckily enough, Yuffie's cookie was already in hand by the time Clound began his explanation, so she didn't miss much else. "Well, this morning we got a call from Elena. She said that the Turks thought Reeve was kidnapped last night. She told us to meet her at the Old Shinra building at 5. Unfortunately, that's all I really know." Cloud scratched his head, searching for something more to say. All eyes were still on him, so he knew he hadn't satisfied their needs for knowledge yet. "Then, uh, when we were in there, me, Tifa and Yuffie found the Jeneva files missing from the President's office. Barret and Red said they found a still fresh bloody hand print somewhere in Hojo's lab. Then, Reno, Elena and Rude informed us that they discovered that, since the power was restored to the building, the security cameras automatically went back on. So they took the tapes from this morning and last night, and now we're here waiting for them. I think that pretty much sums it up."

"Now hold on a damn minute!" Barret's voice was filled with a bit of anger, like always. "I got all dat shit, but tell my why the hell we sittin' here waitin' for dem Shinra bastards?"

Tifa sensed the tension growing. Barret wasn't happy about their decision in the least, but she couldn't let him get upset now. If he got pissed off this early in the game, there's no telling what he'd do later on. "Calm down, Barret." Her voice was filled with the disarming peacefulness that filled her whole aura. "Look, we need to find Reeve – he's our friend. And if the only clues we have are those tapes, then we all need to see them, whether or not the Turks are here."

"But do you really think it's a good idea to let Reno and his cohorts into our temporary base of operations?" Red's voice of reason caught everyone a bit off guard. Everyone was expecting another outburst from either Barret or Cid.

This time, Cloud took the pleasure of explaining his decision. "I know it may be a bit uncomfortable, but it's for the best. Reno told me that whoever broke in to the Shinra building knew about their security system and disabled it. That means that they know we're looking for them. He also said that none of the guards set up around Midgar saw anyone suspicious, and none of them were dead, so that means whoever is behind this is still in the city. We don't know who we're dealing with yet, so it isn't safe to assume we could just wipe them out without trouble. So, if we stayed in Midgar, we ran the risk of either one of us getting kidnapped too, or those tapes getting stolen."

Barret grumbled a bit to himself and turned his attention back to beating Cid yet again. "I still dunno. I don't trust dat Reno guy."

"Yeah!" Yuffie jumped at the opportunity of getting back into the conversation and relieving her boredom. "That ponytail of his kept whacking me in the face whenever I'd walk be hind him. I bet he was doing it on purpose too, that red-headed punk! I would chopped it off if I wasn't afraid of getting his dirty gross hair all over my Conformer." Soon, her rants turned into low mumbles that only she could understand, though the demonstrative motions she made certainly told that Reno should watch his hair next time he saw her. _Gawd I hate that guy. He reminds me of that idiot back in Wutai. The boy that was always wearing Vans, 501's, and that dope Beastie-T…_ [1]

As if on cue, the front doors of the Tranquillity swung open as three blue-suited individuals waltzed in. "Well, speak o' da devil…" Barret exercised a great deal of will as he kept his eyes glued on his cards, fearing that if he looked at the three Turks, he's go on a shooting rampage.

"If you insist." Yuffie couldn't pass up the opportunity to run her mouth, even though she could see clearly how angry Barret already was. "He's this really big mean guy that's all ready and he's got horns and a tail."

"Yeah, and he's got a little daughter named Yuffie." Cid couldn't help but chuckle at his own wittiness. If anyone knew how to make Cid laugh, it was himself.

"GAWD this is boring!"

"Pipe down girl 'for I kick yer ass outta dis bar!"

"Barret, you won't be throwing anyone out of my bar, thank you."

"Will you people shut up! I'm trying to watch this. You'd figure terrorists would be able to hold their tounges better, right babe?"

"We're not terrorists! And who are you calling, 'babe'?"

"Don't tell me to shut up you red-headed do-do bird! I'm just trying to keep you all awake. I know these stupid tape thingies are putting _me_ to sleep."

"Shhhh!" With that, everyone turned their attentions back to the TV screen and saw why Cloud had interjected. Silence fell upon the group just in time to see a Tall man with short, spiked, lightly colored (that's all they could tell from the black and white film) hair walk across the screen. Right behind him, an older man with long, slicked back dark hair followed. One hand was held to his face, holding in the blood from a broken nose. "Reeve…"

The tall man got behind Reeve and forced him up to the second story of Hojo's lab. Poor Reeve crawled up the stairs in front of the man, unable to resist. _That explains the bloody hand print..._ Soon, the two walked off the screen, but behind the taller man trailed something that appeared to be made out of metal. Perhaps an extremely long sword? _The Masamune?!_ Fear now took the place on interest in Cloud's mind. He was anxious to see what this man was doing. "All right, Reno, change the tapes to the next camera."

"Listen here, Spike! You might be in charge of these idiots but you're not _my_ boss." Reno's temper was very short. He was still dealing with the fact that his President was missing; he didn't need this blond hared terrorist telling him what to do. But, despite his temper. a cold stare from Rude quickly quieted him. "Fine."

Reno paced back and forth along the side porch to Tifa's bar. They had just finished watching the tapes of the break-in, now it was time to plan their next move. Rude and Elena sat next to each other on an outside bench, watching Reno pace in front of them, awaiting what he had to say. "Ok, so we know Reeve's alive. Or, at least he was when that guy went through the building. Cloud said the guy was carrying that big sword Sephiroth used to use, but it wasn't him. His hair was too short and his skin was too light."

Reno paused in this run-down of the situation to pace a bit more, and ponder. _It couldn't be Sephiroth, right? Cloud cut the psycho into little bits. And even if Spike didn't kill him, he'd be smooshed under all the rubble in the North Crater. Plus it didn't really look like him. Yeah, it can't be him…_ "So, then the creep stole the Jeneva files from Rufus' old office. But first he stole something from Hojo's lab, but we couldn't tell what it was. We'd need some kind of image editing do-hickie or whatever to see that shit." He stopped in mid step in front of Elena, tapping his weapon against his leg aimlessly as he sifted through his thoughts. "Laney, you were always good with paperwork and all that BS. Tomorrow we head back to the Shinra building. I'm sure that creepy ass Hojo kept some sort of inventory, he was always paranoid about people breaking his shit. You deciefer all that computer mumbo-jumbo, we'll compare it to what's still there, and we'll see what's missing. Everyone got that?"

Rude and Elena both silently nodded at Reno's plan. Elena couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with Reno. He seemed far too on edge for his, or anyone else's, own good. She could only remember very few instances I which she saw Reno loose his cool in front of others, but he seemed to be snapping left and right today. Almost as if Rude had read her mind, he spoke up. "It's getting late Reno. Maybe you should rest?" In Rude's one cold way, he really just told Reno "You don't look so good and I'm worried."

"Yeah, maybe I should." Reno made his way back into the bar, calling over his shoulder to the two he left behind. "See ya in the morning." Reno walked through Tifa's bar up to the room she had designated for the Turks to stay in. He barely noticed the strange looks he got from the AVALANCHE members still in the bar. A finger ran thoughtfully over one of the scars on his cheek as he walked up the stairs. _God, I can't believe I left Reeve alone. What did I think would happen? I bet Tseng's rolling over in his grave right about now._ When he entered the room, his eyes surveyed the lay of the room. Two beds, one dresser, a window, a closet, and a mirror – your standard hotel room. His eyes paused one the window as he watched the rain fall outside. _When did it start raining? I didn't even notice. Am I really that out of it?_ He ignored his own thought as his eyes moved down to compare the two beds. He decided the floor would be his best bet. He had grown accustomed to the hard safety of a floor underneath him at night. The Turks' new home in the outskirts of Midgar only acquired beds in the recent weeks.

With one swift movement he flung his jacket off of his shoulders and on to the floor. After removing his shoes, he bundled his jacket into a makeshift pillow on the floor before settling his head on it. He decided that he could think another time – now he had to sleep. He wasn't even all that tired, but he did see the I-Want-To-Talk-About-Useless-Shit-That-I-Think-Is-Going-On-In-Your-Head look in Elena's eyes before he left. He hated that look, and would prefer to be asleep than hear her babble.

[1] – To Reno Spiegel – TOOL FANS UNITE!

A/N: This didn't turn out exactly how I expected it too, but oh well. At least it gave me a reason for Reno action so OOC. Oh, and this time, I PROMISE Vincent will be in the next chapter. And, pwetty pwease review. * bats his eye lashes *


	4. Interlude: When Boredom Reigns Supreme

Disclaimer: There once was this guy named Squaresoft and he was really greedy. He owned this really cool game with these really cool characters that he called "Final Fantasy VII." That meanie wouldn't let me have them. L The End.

A/N: This chapters pretty much just for character development. Character development in a story that uses all previously created characters – ain't it grand? Anywho, this is just a warning – expect no plot.

****

Interlude 1 – Part 1: When Boredom Reigns Supreme

Tifa wouldn't contain her smile as she looked out on the inhabitants of her bar. It had seemed like lifetimes ago when she had a bar filled with AVALANCHE members. Then, bittersweet memories reminded her that indeed, this was a first. Before, she hosted the old AVALANCHE: Jessie, Biggs, Wedge; now her bar/inn served as a home for her new friends. And she loved them all, even with all their faults. With Cid's mouth he was sure to be the worst influence a young girl like Marlene could have, but the lovable old pilot would still lovingly bounce that little girl on his knee as good as she or Barret could ever. Barret's short temper might get them all killed one day, but his strong will had already saved them countless times. And Red – he might have almost forcibly mated with Aeris a little over a year ago, but he was there to help her save the world every step of the way. _Oh, Aeris…_ Tifa forced the sad thoughts of her fallen friend out of her mind as she continued to survey the room. Yuffie was always the sneaky trouble maker of the group, but she was also a much needed ray of sunshine. The rest of the group might have rather called her a ray of annoyance, but Tifa loved Yuffie's energy, even if she didn't use it in the most constructive ways. And then there was Cloud – the love of her life. The love of her life who loved someone else. Her forbidden fruit.

Something very strange happened to Cloud after his personal battle with Sephiroth in the Northern Crater a year ago – he made up his mind. Tifa could still remember the exact words he spoke to her when they arrive in calm about a month after the destruction of Meteor, but she could never tell whether it was a sad memory or not.

_"Tifa, I think I've dragged this out long enough, and it's time to say what needs to be said: I love Aeris." When Tifa saw his mouth getting ready to move again, she clamped her hand over it and violently shook her head. She was already crying her eyes out from the one, simple statement, made of only three words. She didn't think she could survive what else he might say._

But Cloud, being the relentless fool he is, removed her hand and continued. "And I love you too, Tifa." Her eyes finally took their gaze off of the ground below her feet and met his. "I've always loved you, Tif. It might not be the same kind of love that I have for Aeris, but I still love you. You've been one of my closest friends for as long as I remember. You're the reason I joined SOLDIER. You cried with me when Nibelheim burned. You're the reason I didn't lose my mind then. You're the one who kept me working for AVALANCHE. Without you, I never would've met Aeris." Her eyes were flooded with clashing emotions. She loved him with all her heart, but she hated him for saying these things, though these were the sweetest things he had ever said to her. She couldn't recall ever being more confused. "You brought me back to this world from the Lifestream. I owe you my life. I know it's not what you want, but that's what I have to give."

And, one year ago, she accepted what he had offered. Together, they helped alleviate the area of its monster problem to gather up a little extra Gil. They had more than enough leftover from the travels to move into the home they had been sharing for a few months, but building a bar was a bit more expensive. They moved into the Tranquillity in Kalm, living in side-by-side, single person rooms in the inn part of her, no, _their _establishment. She never thought she could live with the fact that Cloud would never be more than a friend. But, with the hustle and bustle of running a bar again, along with how nice it felt to just have Cloud _with_ her in _any_ way, she grew accustomed to Cloud: Non-Sexual Life Partner.

Soon, Tifa's mind strayed to another friend whose handsome features rivaled that of Cloud's: Vincent Valentine. She pulled her eyes away from a window that had rain dripping down it and looked out on her bar again. Everyone was there except for him (and, of course, Reeve). Although they weren't in the same room, even the Turks were here, but no Vincent. She and Cloud had both tried to reach him through PHS, but no answer. He probably threw his away the moment he stepped off the Highwind to hike over to Lucrecia's cave. 

Vincent had insisted she was still alive. He said that he knew that with the amount of Mako and Jenova Hojo had injected her with over thirty years ago, she couldn't be dead. He was convinced that he had to come clean and tell her the truth about Sephiroth – tell her that he helped kill her son. He would beg for her forgiveness. He was convinced that her forgiveness would signify the final stage of his atonement, though he was certain he wouldn't receive it. Tifa, on the other hand, insisted that Lucrecia would forgive him and they'd get back together and populate the cave with little Vincents and Lucrecias. God, she hoped she was right.

But more desperately, she hoped he would come. They needed him, as much as everyone insisted they didn't when Tifa brought up the subject earlier. Not only was he one of the most skilled combatants she'd ever seen, Vincent's presence was particularly important now that they discovered the Jenova files missing. He knew more about the Jenova Project than any other member of AVALANCHE, even more than Cloud, who was a part of the Project. His knowledge of the matter even seemed to rival Hojo's at times.

Even with all this Jenova/Reeve mess aside, she wished he would come just to satisfy her mind. She loved all of her friends equally, but she worried most about Vincent. She knew how depressed he truly was. If Lucrecia had rejected him, she could only imagine what he would've done. She couldn't stand to think of him returning to his coffin under the Shinra Mansion back in Nibelheim. The vivid image still stuck out in her mind, remembering how stuffy, dark, smelly and, quite frankly, depressing the coffin room had been when she and the other's found Vincent there. If he had locked himself up for _thirty years_ after "failing" Lucrecia, she could only imagine how long he'd be in there once he had killed her son and was rejected by her, again. 

And all of this was the _positive_ outcome. She remembered that night so many months ago. It was the same night that Cloud found Aeris, but a few hours before.

_Tifa woke with a start. Another nightmare. They had been coming to her more and more frequently over the past few weeks. This one wasn't any more terrifying than the rest, but she woke with a bad feeling. Something terrible was going to happen tonight._

Tifa's feet unconsciously carried her out of her room and onto the streets of the City of the Ancients. A cool breeze brought a smile to her face, but a cold man took it right back from her. She just stood back and watched Vincent, who was sitting along the edge off one of the paths over the large cavern in the center of the city.

His prosthetic arm hung limply at his side, while his human arm wielded one of his guns. He twirled his Peacemaker from is hip holster into his hand. His arm locked suddenly and gripped the gun tighter. Then, presumable, he mentally fired at his target. He repeated the process over and over again, with inhuman speed. Each time, his target would change. This didn't startle Tifa; she had seen him doing this kind of thing before. It was nothing more than a quiet man calmly practicing his aim in the still of the night. 

It wasn't necessarily his actions that had shocked Tifa to the core of her being, but it was what his actions occasionally targeted: himself. Every so often, the Peacemaker would twirl around his nimble fingers until it found it's barrel pressed against Vincent's temple.

After seeing his aim fall upon himself three more times, Tifa finally shook herself from her spot and intervened."Vincent, what are you doing?"

"…"

"Vincent?"

"…" Another moment of silence was her answer. Tifa certainly wasn't satisfied, but she knew not to push the man too hard. If he wanted to speak, in time, he would. "I am thinking…"

"About?"

Another long silence stretched between the two. What was she doing out there anyway? Tifa knew that she could never really understand what was going on in Vincent's mind, and consequently could never help him. But it didn't hurt to try, right?

"I do not belong here…"

If Vincent had been looking at her face, he would have seen the confusion in her eyes. And, even though he wasn't, he could sense it around her. "I do not belong in a holy place like this. This is a city for a lost race that saved this world once…" 

As he paused, Vincent's eyes wandered down to the Peacemaker still clutched in his human hand. Before speaking again, his eyes shifted over to his metallic claw. "Humans are the descendants of the Cetra. They belong here, where their ancestors thrived. I am the descendant… no, the embodiment_ of Chaos. I should not be here."_

Tifa wasn't exactly shocked that Vincent was opening up to her. It wasn't the first time she couldn't sleep and stumbled upon her dark friend. Usually, something was bothering her, and Vincent was the best listener she could ask for. Rarely was she graced by the presence of his deeper thoughts, but it happened occasionally nonetheless.

"Vincent, now none of us are descendants of anyone. We're all just lost and confused people. We're all lost and confused friends of Aeris. She needs us now Vincent, and that why all of us, including you, should be here."

Tifa was a bit proud of herself – that had come out a lot better than she thought it would, seeing how she was speaking only from what was in her heart. Maybe she should do that more often. But, as she expected, Vincent wasn't impressed. "I am a friend of no one…"

With that said, he walked back to his room, gun re-holstered, without looking back at her. Tifa let out a sigh of defeat. "Oh well," she said aloud. "At least he's not going to kill himself anymore."

By the time 9 o'clock rolled around, most of the inhabitants of the bar had gathered on barstools to watch the big TV hanging over head. There was nothing much to do, but none were tired, especially since it was the first time in a whole year they had all been together like this. Sleep just wasn't appealing to anyone. So, they all sat and idly watched TV, save for Cid and Barret.

The two eldest of the group were still going at it. Cid had finally won a game about a half an hour ago, but he hadn't won one since. While Cid hadn't played cards since he was little (didn't have much time to after he started working for Shinra), Barret had played cards every night with Biggs back in the Seventh Heaven. It was safe to say it was an unfair match up.

"Damn, ol' man! I should shoot ya 'n' put ya outta yer missery!"

"Pipe down! I'm jus lettin' ya fuckin' win so I don't embarrass you in front a yer lil girl."

Marlene gave Cid a playful slap. "You shouldn't curse in front of little girls, Uncie Cid! Even daddy stopped cursing in front of me!"

Barret pulled Marlene close to him and gave her a vigorous rub on the head. "Listen here, Marlene, go play wit ya Aunt Tifa. Ol' Uncle Cid gets embarrassed when I whoop him in front o' ya." As Marlene hopped away, Cid couldn't hide the glimmer in his eye, even from the obtuse Barret. "Ya got some grease in yer eye, old man?"

Suddenly snapped out of his thoughts, Cid cleared his throat and asked a question that had been bugging him for a while now. "Barret, how'dya name Marlene? Like where'd ya think o' the name?"

Barret scowled at the smaller man sitting across from him. "Ya got a problem wit my baby's name?"

"No, no, that's not it." Cid waved his hands in front of him, as if he was waving off the notion that he could be displeased with Marlene in any way. "It's just… Damn… It's just that that goddamn Shera went and got herself pregnant." Cid hadn't thanked his maker in a long time, but he did now. _Thank God the rest o' them ain't listenin'._ "Yeah, so now we got a lil girl comin' and, last time I heard, that damn Shera put the load on me to pick a name."

"Hold on now. Whatcha mean 'last time ya heard'?" A crash of thunder sounded (the first crash, despite the fact that it had been raining for a while) as Barret spoke, giving his words an extra bit of malice that he hadn't intended them to have. Barret knew Cid was a bastard to Shera, but he didn't think he was so heartless as to leave and let a pregnant woman fend for herself.

_Shit…_ Worry was painted across Cid's face as he searched for an explanation. "Look here, don'tcha go getting' the wrong idea or nothin'. Fuck! It's just, ya know, I had shit to do all around and didn't think I should be draggin' some soon-ta-be mother 'round with me. Yeah, that's it. Don't be gettin' yer panties in a bunch." _Phew! That was a close call. Watch yer ass 'round this one, Cid…_ Cid snapped his mouth shut for the rest of the night, except to let a string of expletives fly every time he lost. He didn't care whether his question got answered or not.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Good God that was long. And I didn't even get to the main point of this stupid thing yet. I need to have more control over myself. I'm just sitting her, typing some babble about Tifa as some way to lead into Barret and Cid's card game. I'm just sipping on some water, minding my own business, when I look down and see that my damned fingers went and conjured up two flash backs without my permission. Damn fingers. Well, I'm breaking this thing up here (even though I already typed the rest of it). I'll put this biznatch up in two different thingies, for the ease of my readers (if there are in fact more than one of you). And remember to review. * big wide smile *


	5. Interlude: A Drunkard and a Vampire

Disclaimer: I STILL don't own anything.

A/N: Here's the second half of this God – awfully long interlude. Well, at least, on the bright side of things, this one has at least a little tiny bit of plot towards the end.

****

Interlude 1 – Part 2: A Drunkard and a Vampire

"Hey Cloud!"

"Yes, Yuffie?"

"Look out the window over there! There's a pink Chocobo!"

"No there isn't, Yuffie."

"How do _you_ know, smarty pants?"

"I helped build this bar. There isn't a window over there. And you are _not_ stealing a sip of my drink."

"Aww, c'mon. It's not like I've never drank before! You used to let me steal sips from you in bars all the time."

"That was beer, Yuffie. A Long Island Iced Tea is too strong for a little girl."

Yuffie sat grumpily on her barstool. Cloud was always nice to her. Him and Tifa were the only two that didn't call her "brat" or "pest." Well, Vincent didn't either, but Vincent didn't call her _anything._ But, now she saw it. _Even after a year, he still thinks I'm a little girl. I'm already SEVENTEEN for Pete's sake. I'll show that spikey headed bastards who's a little girl. It's Wedgie Time! WHAHAHAHA!! But not yet. No, my little, ninja, wedgie-master hands will wait until he least expects it. Wait a second, did I just say for Pete's sake? GAWD that was lame. Who is Pete anyway, and why is his sake so important?_ "Hey, Cloud?"

"No, Yuffie."

"Oh, hush up! I was just gonna ask why it's called a Long Island Iced Tea?"

"Because if little underage ninja's steal sips of it, they'll puke enough to create a very long island."

"Oh man, that was so funny I forgot to laugh. But seriously, what's Long Island?"

"A magical place where everything, even the iced tea, has alcohol in it."

"Ooo, two corny jokes in a row, I'm impressed. Now will ya tell me?"

"They just put two words together that sound right?'

"Why?"

"I don't know."

"Why not?"

"Because I wasn't there when it happened?"

"Why weren't you?" _Gawd, I love this game…_

"Because it probably happened before I was born."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not that old."

"Why not?" _I could do this for hours…_

Yuffie was close; she could only do it for one hour. At a little bit after 10, Cloud had his fill of Yuffie's question game, and broke the seal of sleep. He was the first to retire to bed (save Reno). Not long after did Tifa and Red follow suit. She watched the rain, now coming down much harder than it had been previously, and let boredom come over her again. Luckily, Barret and Cid could still provide the girl some entertainment for a while. "So, how's the old fart doin', Barret?"

As if on cue, both hands were revealed, and Cid had lost once again. "Goddamn you, ya annoying little brat! Ya fucked up my game for the last time, Pest!"

Yuffie stood silently in disbelief with her mouth ajar as Cid stomped up to the room he shared with Red. The old pilots cursed at her all the time, but this time it was filled with anger, not playful annoyance. Barret tried his best to comfort her. "Don'tcha worry. Da old man's jus pissy cuz I been kickin' his sorry ass all night."

"Yeah, you're probably right." _You better be right! Oh man am I gonna kick that smoking billow of shit's ass in the morning!_

Elena thought the dark night complimented Rude very well. His bald head up against the night sky looked like some strange, tan moon. She had to fight the urge to rub his shiny head to see if it squeaked. Maybe she'd let her hand wander into the rain falling outside of the covered patio to get an extra bit of sound potential. _Oh god, I sound like that Yuffie girl. Am I really that bored?_ No. Elena knew she wasn't bored; she was worried, and she was looking for anything, even a shiny head, to take her mind off her worries.

She and Rude had been sitting outside together for at least 2 hours. The whole time they were in silence, but she was used to it. Whenever Reno acted strangely and left a question hanging over their heads, like he did tonight, they would sit outside like this engaged in a battle of wills. Neither of them wanted to talk about what was on their minds at times like this, but they both knew they had to. So they would sit in silence until one cracked and asked the question.

"What do you think is wrong with Reno?" Rude always won. He was always silent – it was an unfair advantage over the rather talkative Elena.

"He thinks it's his fault."

Elena knew the answer to the question she was about to ask, but chose to play dumb to draw out the time she had to think of some solution. "What's his fault?'

Rude almost smirked. She always asked needless questions, questions she knew no one wanted to answer aloud. She might not have been the deadliest of the Turks, but she would make one hell of a sadistic interrogator. "He thinks he's the reason Reeve was kidnapped. His logic is that he was the last to be with Reeve, and he left him there alone."

Elena feigned anger. "What the hell am I, chopped liver? He left Reeve to come save me. If he didn't, I might be in a hospital bed somewhere."

"And he'd blame himself for not leaving Reeve to help you." Rude spoke quickly and with a matter-of-fact feeling, like he was simply finishing Elena's sentence. He knew Reno better than he knew himself. They had grown up together, joined Shinra together, and became Turks together. It was killing him to see his lifelong friend go down the path of self-inflicted ridicule (because he knew how vicious Reno could berate someone, including himself).

And Elena was left as the outsider. Reno and Rude grew up in the slums together, she lived on the plate alone. They climbed each wrung of the Shinra ladder together and became Turks, and she just jumped right in without trouble. They were men, she was a woman. Even their names were separate. Their names began with R's, hers with an E. She would never be one of them, but she'd be damned if she would let one of them fall into depression. "Maybe we should go up and see how he's doing?" For the first time since they began speaking, Elena took her eyes away from the rain around her and looked at the bigger Turk. She could read nothing from his blank expression, just like always.

Rude said nothing, but silently followed as Elena lead the way back to the bar.

_Whahaha! I'll show that Cloud!_ Yuffie silently crept down the stairs from her room. She had retreated to her quarters after Barret insisted that he couldn't trust her down here by herself, and that there was no way he was staying up until she felt tired. So, as an act of good faith, she "went to sleep" soon after Barret and Cid's card game had ended. _Gawd I'm sneaky!_

Suddenly, she heard the side door to the bar opening. With ninja like reflexes (I don't where she got those from?), she dove behind the bar and landed painlessly on her side. She peeked around from her hiding space to spy on the intruder. _Those damned Turks have the worst timing…_

After she was sure the coast was clear, Yuffie bounced up and began sifting through the things behind Tifa's bar. _What? No little picture thing that tells you how to make stuff?_ It was foolish to think that there would be. Tifa was a bartender from before Yuffie had even met her; she probably knew how to make everything by heart. "Oh well…" Since Yuffie deemed that everyone else was asleep, she abandoned her inner monolog and opted to speak aloud.

"Let's see here." Yuffie put a glass down on the bar that was far too large to safely hold an alcoholic beverage. Then, she proceeded to pull out bottles filled with various shades of amber out. "A little bit of this… a splash of that… Ooo, this smells good, a LOT of this. Some of that, that, and then this, and, Viola!" Yuffie held her drink above her head proudly. "Yuffie Island Iced Yuffie!"

She couldn't hold back her giggles at her own silliness. _Heehee, the name has Yuffie in it TWICE! Gawd, I'm hilarious…_A small sip quickly replaced her giggles with hacks. "Ahh.. th-this tas- ack! – tastes – da-da-damn… gr-GREAT!" She managed to proclaim herself the best bartender the world had ever seen, in between violent coughs, that is.

Suddenly, the front door swung open in synchronization with a clap of thunder. A tall man stood in the open doorway. A spark of lightning lit up the figure long enough to make his features distinguishable. His long hair was dangling in front of his face. Torn and tattered clothes covered his body from head to toe. They even extended up to cover much of his face. The only bit of skin the man did show through the tears of his clothing was unrecognizable due to the sizable amount of blood that covered it. This mysterious sight, combined with the potency of the single sip of her drink sent Yuffie fainting to the floor with fear.

She didn't know how long she had been out, but it felt like at least a few days. Her head was throbbing – it smacked against the hardwood floor when she fell. Unconsciously, her hand traveled up to the back of her head to access the damage. Instead of feeling the soft squish of brain that she feared, she felt the cold sting of metal. She shot up to a sitting position and would have screamed, but a gloved hand quickly covered her mouth. _Gawd, I've done it now! I got drunk and wandered around until this CREEP captured me. Oh no, what if he rapes me?_

Yuffie wiggled her agile body around, failing her limbs wildly. This creep wasn't going to rape her without having to fight for it!

"Hold still…" A cold, emotionless voice stopped Yuffie in her tracks. A scary voice like that would've scared anyone else senseless, but she recognized it immediately. "You'll wake the others."

"Gawd, Vinnie. You look like shit." She was speaking the brutal truth. His hair was dripping wet and his clothes were torn in many places. The cloth that stayed in tact was soaked through with a mixture of rain water, sweat, and blood. He had minor cuts all over his arms. But, wretched as his body looked, his face was still perfectly unharmed. His pale white skin held a glowing, supernatural quality amidst the darkness of the bar. The skin of his face didn't contain a single scratch or fleck of dirt. And his eyes put away the thoughts that this man might be some poor, damaged, helpless individual that his body screamed to be. Crimson shone through the darkness to ward off any sympathy. His eyes were just as deadly looking as they were the first time she saw him flying out of his coffin.

A few minutes passed by the two in silence. Vincent spoke only out of necessity. It seemed as if Yuffie would never speak unless he initiated the conversation. The girl was surprisingly quiet when she was drunk. "Go to bed, Yuffie…"

Her face remained blank and her body showed no sign of obeying. _Hey, he called me Yuffie. Not pest, or brat, or drunk-ass ninja. Maybe that means he'll help me beat up Cid tomorrow. That guy's such a bastard._

"… and stay away from these drinks. Your body is far to small to handle something like this." Vincent held up the cup that had poisoned her. The sight of the amber liquid reminded her of what had taken place.

"How long was I out?" Her eyes made their way from the glass back to Vincent's pale face.

"About ten minutes."

"It wasn't long enough." With that said, Yuffie closed her eyes and her body went limp. Quickly enough to be passed of for as an unconscious reaction, Vincent caught Yuffie's falling head into his human hand. He shifted the weight of her body into his arms and proceeded to carry her up the stairs. Whether she had passed out or fallen asleep, it was still in her best interest to spend the remainder of the night in a bed rather than the cold floor of a bar. He checked each door and assumed the only unlocked one was Yuffie's. Luckily enough, the room was empty, so he deemed his assumption correct.

Vincent gently put Yuffie down on her bed. He quickly and gently removed her boots and her arm guard. He examined her for a moment. He figured he should take her suspenders off as well, as they could end up being deadly ropes around a drunk Yuffie's neck if she was the kind of person who liked to roll around in her sleep. With that done, he deemed her ready for sleep. After pulling the sheets back, sliding her beneath them, and finally tucking her in, Vincent quickly and quietly left her room.

In the hallway, Vincent looked over the bar. _The only unlocked door…_ It looked like he'd be sleeping on a barstool tonight, but he didn't really mind. It surely would be better than the dirt and rocks that had been his bed for the past few weeks.

A/N: Finally done with this far-too-long interlude. Isn't it sad when one interlude nearly doubles the total amount of words that existed before it? Don't worry, I'll probably explain what the hell happened to Vincent in the next few chapters. Oh, and please please please review. I feel like I'm just writing this for me and the TWO people that have reviewed. Reno Spiegel and Six-string Samurai each get "manly" and purely plutonic hugs for their support.


	6. Tensions Rising

Disclaimer: I may own your soul, but Squaresoft owns all FFVII characters, places, etc.

A/N: Ok, so here's my ploy to get people to review. I'll tell you now that sometime in this fic, a romance will develop betwixt Vincent an another character. Unfortunately, even I don't know who that character will be. Tifa? Yuffie? Barret? An OC? So far, I've had one person telling me that they smelled a Yuffentine coming along, and I've had another tell me they hated Yuffie/Vincent pairings, so… Why don't you all come on and review and throw in who you want to see Vinnie end up with? It'll gimme something to read and keep me from going stir crazy. You know you want to.

****

Chapter 4: Tensions Rising

Tifa woke up quite early the morning after AVALANCHE's trip to Midgar, though it didn't seem all that early to her. 6 o'clock was sleeping in for the owner/manager of an inn. The moment any of her guests woke up, she already had to be ready to attend to their needs. Once standing at the bottom of the staircase leading into the bar, she took a moment to admire the scenery outside. It was quite a relief to see that the hard rain from the night before had ceased. Rain would help their search for Reeve. 

Tifa was so used to being the first up everyday for the past year that, as her eyes moved from the window back to the contents of her bar, the surprise from a set of crimson eyes in the darkness nearly knocked her on her hind parts. 

Vincent had been awake for a good while - at least an hour, but probably more. He had leaned himself against a wall in a corner of the bar and commenced an early morning ritual of cleaning the three guns he kept on him at all times: the Quicksilver, the Peacemaker, and the Death Penalty. Tifa could see light reflecting off two of the guns at his feet, resting neatly upon an opened rag. No light would ever dare reflect off the dark metal of the Death Penalty held tightly in its owner's nimble fingers. The combined darkness of Vincent and his most prized possession was enough to scare any light in all the word away.

But, unfortunately for him, it wasn't enough to scare Tifa away. He hated being disturbed when he was maintaining his weapons, and from the direction of Tifa's stroll, it certainly looked like a disturbance is what he was going to get. This was his time to think, that was why he did it so godforsaken early. Plus, he never really liked interaction all that much anyway. _Meddling humans…_

Turning his attention fully to his Death Penalty, Vincent hoped his determination might tell Tifa that he didn't want to be bothered. "Good morning, Vincent." Either she didn't hear his unspoken message, or she chose to ignore it.

A few minutes passed by them silently. Tifa pulled up a chair to sit by him, but didn't speak. He could handle her watching him if she remained silent. Maybe this won't be that bad, after all. "When did you get here?" It was as if she was reading his mind and doing the exact opposite of what he wanted.

Silence followed for a moment or two longer. Finally, Vincent raised his gaze to Tifa's face. She wore a happy smile, but her eyes betrayed something akin to worry. As much as he didn't want to acknowledge her presence, Vincent always prided himself on being polite to women, one of the few traits he kept from his days as a normal human. It would've been rather rude to blatantly ignore her simple, seemingly harmless question.

"Last night."

"So that's what all that noise was?" Once again, silence was the crimson-eyed man's reply. _I don't know why I bother…_It had been over a year since the last time Vincent and she had spoken freely, what made her think he would just jump right back in with her? Her mind fought to hold back the bittersweet memories of times she and Vincent shared. _They probably weren't a big deal to him though…_ But they were to her. For as long as she could remember, she had been the listener. After Tifa's mother died, there was never really anyone to listen to her. Aeris might've been a good option, but that option no longer existed for Tifa. Yuffie was always there, but she could only rarely talk to her about something serious. Vincent had always been all-ears to her babbling, no matter how trivial or how serious…

_"Hey, Vince! Wasn't that some great food tonight?"_

"Yes, Tifa. It was quite satisfying…"

"Vincent, do you ever miss Aeris?"

"Maybe, I never really put much thought into it, but I can see how you would…"

"Vinnie, do you think Cloud will ever love me?"

"It is possible. I once loved someone. If I can love someone, I'm sure Cloud can…"

No matter what kind of question Tifa had lined up for him, Vincent always had an answer. He never used a cop-out answer like "I don't know" like most of the other guys used with her. _He probably wasn't even really listening…_

Vincent tried to ignore the look in Tifa's eyes. The worry that held them before had gradually twisted into sadness. Honestly, at the moment, he didn't care for Tifa or her feelings, but he felt obligated to do something. After all, he was staying in her bar free of charge. He was very grateful for that, seeing how all the Gil he had made over the past year had always gone to buying Lucrecia medicinal items.

"Lucrecia is missing…" He may never have been good at comforting others, but Vincent always knew how to throw a curve ball that, hopefully, would take someone's mind off their pain for at least a moment.

Vincent's tactic had worked. Tifa was so thrown off by the out-of-the-blue statement uttered by the normally silent man that it took her a few minutes to find enough words to formulate a cohesive response. "Oh my, Vincent. Are you ok? When did it happen?"

Vincent ignored her first question (he was never ok and Tifa knew it, so it would've been a waste of breath). "She was taken about a week ago."

"Taken?!" Tifa's mind didn't hesitate to connect Vincent's statement to Reeve disappearance. "How do you know she was _taken_?"

Vincent searched for logical words to explain what he knew. There were many things he was aware of, but he did not know why he knew them. A normal person would've considered themselves to be a clairvoyant, but Vincent was too logical for that. He discovered his "ability" sometime during his adventures with AVALANCHE. Over time, he decided to attribute the skill to Chaos. He could "feel" these things in the same way he could feel Chaos coming over him. 

But he couldn't tell this to Tifa. No human would be able to accept the fact that there was a demon living inside of him that told him things. "There were only a few marks left inside the cave, but none of them hinted to a struggle. Lucrecia had fallen ill. She was in no condition to walk out of the cave let alone hike over the mountain range or swim over the waterfall. She could've gone willingly, but she couldn't have left without assistance." Every word he spoke was true, but he knew, in a sense, he was lying. He could lie better than anyone. He could lie like a demon.

Tifa was about to speak, but suddenly stopped herself. This was a situation for Cloud to handle. It wasn't her place to vocalize ideas about connections that she had made. This is why Cloud was the leader. "You should talk to Cloud when he wakes up. He'd like to hear this."

Another long stretch of silence found itself between the two. Vincent turned his attention back to cleaning the barrel of his Death Penalty. Tifa gave up her attempts at starting a conversation - they obviously weren't working. It wasn't until she noticed the tattered condition of Vincent's pant legs that Tifa decided to speak again. "God, Vince. What happened to you?"

Vincent's eyes traveled down to find what she was staring at so intently. Their gazes were both on one of many holes that provided a window for the dry blood covering Vincent's already healed wound. "It's nothing."

"You want me to grab some of Cloud's clothes for you?" She didn't know why she asked. Tifa knew he would refuse, and if he didn't, he should. Cloud's clothes couldn't hope to fit Vincent. Other than both having stunning eyes, they two men shared no physical qualities. Although both were rather thin, Vincent's arms and chest both held a bit more muscle than Cloud's, making any of Cloud's shirts uncomfortably tight on Vincent. Vincent was also substantially taller than Cloud; the blond-hared man's pants would probably only come halfway down Vincent's calf.

"No. Just go about your business – I'll mend my appearance." Vincent had been giving Tifa subtle, unspoken hints to leave him be all morning, but he finally opted for a vocal method. This was the nicest way he could think of saying "Go away."

This time around, Tifa took the hint and tended to her bar. She wiped off her counter first, like she did every morning. Upon discovering several bottles on the counter and a used glass in the sink, her suspicions began. Vincent was never the drinking type, so it wasn't him. The combination didn't seem like either Cid or Barret's likings. Cloud headed off to bed before she did, Red _couldn't_ make himself a drink and she doubted the Turks would take it upon themselves to whip themselves up a drink without permission, no matter how vile she thought them to be. _Damnit! Yuffie better not have a hangover – we have work to do today…_

Yuffie awoke with hopes that real life would be better on her head than her dream, but to no avail. Yuffie's head hurt just as bad awake as it did when she dreamt Barret was standing on her it. _GAWD, my head hurts… Hey, where are my boots? I NEVER sleep without my boots! I smell some foul play…_ If anyone had been in the room with her, they certainly would've been forced into a laughing fit to find Yuffie actually sniffing around for some "foul play."

After finding her beloved boots (and reacquiring her suspenders), Yuffie made her way out of her room and out into the main part of the bar, where everyone was already awake and talking about the day's plans. _Wasn't I supposed to kick someone's ass today?_ Her face contorted as she searched her mind for a face to match the ass in need of a kicking, but by the time she reached her chair, she gave up. _Oh well, I'll just kick Reno's ass later for the hell of it…_ It was beside Reno that she found herself. There was some tension in the air between Reno and Cloud, so Yuffie wisely picked the empty seat in between them to sit. If there was going to be a fight, she wanted to get an up close and personal view.

Reno and Cloud couldn't seem to agree on a game plan for the day. The argument this morning wasn't so much about what the plan _was_, but who would be involved. In short, Cloud invited himself along after hearing that the Turks were heading back to the Shinra building, and Reno was none too happy about it.

_"Listen here, bud, this is a job for the Turks, not a bunch of low life terrorists!"_

"Look who's talking, murderer! And if we're terrorists than so is Reeve!"

"You're damn right Reeve's a terrorist – a terrorist that is OUR responsibility! And who the fuck are you calling a murderer? Don't act like you've never killed, Spike. Do you have any idea how many Shinra guards you've chopped up?"

"They deserved it!"

"They were doing their jobs! Did they deserve death because they were trying to stop you from blowing up reactors filled with innocent people? The people that worked there weren't Turks or some asshole executivse – they lived down in the slums right next to you! Most of them probably went to that bar your bitch owned!"

"Watch your mouth, you bastard!"

"Look who's talking!"

The discussion continued on like this from the moment Reno sat down until only a few minutes before Yuffie walked out. With each passing minute, the two men lost a bit of maturity until all rational "discussion" broke down into name-calling. The past year had not seemed to calm the hatred these two had for each other. Cloud owed Rude thanks for keeping Reno from electrocuting him; Reno owed Tifa thanks for keep Cloud from slicing off a limb or two.

A stiff silence loomed over everyone. Though Yuffie was grateful for it (her hangover plus concussion couldn't handle much sound at the moment), she broke the silence nonetheless. If she acted too out of character, someone might get suspicious. To her knowledge, only Vincent knew of her drinking experiment the night before, and she wanted to keep it that way.

"So, what's on today's schedule? Did we figure out how to bust our boy Reeve out yet?" A silence so strong followed that Yuffie could've sworn she heard crickets in the background chirping away [1]. "Or not, whatever…"

"We're heading to Midgar." Of all people, Vincent broke the silence. As much as he detested speaking in front of such a large number of people, he felt a need to get a move on. Cloud and Reno had both angered him with their childlike behavior. Two people were missing and arguing was just a waste of valuable time. From the information given to him, it seemed as if Reeve had already served his purpose. If his kidnappers knew what they were doing, they'd be getting rid of Reeve as soon as possible, and not by peacefully sending him on his way either.

"Why are we going back to that dirty place?" _GAWD it took forever to shake all that dirt of my boots…_

This time, Reno didn't hesitate to answer. "_We're_ doing an inventory of Hojo's lab to see what that creep took. I have no clue what the hell you nincompoops will be up to." He folded his arms and resumed glaring at Cloud again. Seeing the tension beginning to form again, Rude rolled up a sleeve and pointed to his watch. 

"Hmph. In fact, I think we'll be heading out now. See you guys later." The three Turks exited the bar in what seemed to be a single file line. Reno was the last to leave and, as expected, didn't pass up the opportunity to make another comment before leaving. "Oh, and don't stay up – we might be home kinda late, kiddies."

Yuffie's body shook with forced anger. "Oooo, I hate that guy!" _Too bad he's so freaking hot!_

"We all do." Cloud's voice certainly didn't give a hint that he was joking.

"Mo'fucker!" Barret didn't bother to hold his tounge – he had already left Marlene in the care of Elizabeth – and elderly lady who had recently moved to Kalm from Corel. "Goddamn Shinra walkin' 'round thinkin' dey all big 'n' bad!"

"Calm down, Barret." Tifa decided to speak in that certain No-One-Can-Stay-Mad-When-I-Talk-Like-This voice, as she could feel the hatred for the Turks emanating off of nearly everyone in the room. Of course, she wasn't exactly a big fan of the group that crushed her bar along with the whole sector around it, but she knew they had to cooperate for the time being. "Anyway, Cloud, what _are_ we going to do today?"

Cloud sat thoughtfully for a moment. In all honesty, he didn't really know. He had planned on winning the argument with Reno and going along with them, but now that the noise from the Turks' helicopter had faded into the distance, he knew that wasn't an option. "Well, Reno said that he was nearly 100% positive that no one left Midgar though any normal passageway between now and the time of Reeve's disappearance. I don't trust Reno on many things, but I know Turks are far too thorough to get incorrect information on something as vital as that. Unfortunately that's all we have to go by. We could search the Shinra building again, but I doubt that would be useful. So, we split up and search the city. Either that guy left through some underground passage or something that Reno and the guards didn't know about, or he's still in the city. If he's in the city, we'll find him – if he left, we'll find out how."

Cloud looked nervously around the room. He had really just free-balled that entire plan and was waiting for someone to interject with a problem. Unfortunately, before anyone could speak his or her displeasure, he found a flaw of his own. Midgar was a bit of a long was from Kalm – far too long for seven people to walk. The Highwind was out of the question for two reasons. First, there was no spot in old Midgar to land. Second, old Midgar was off limit to regular citizens. The only reason they got in last time is because Elena had given the permission and no guard could refuse the word of a Turk (if they knew what was good for them). So, the Highwind would cause too much of a racket for them to sneak in after landing close enough to Midgar. It would take almost all day for them to round up enough Chocobos for them all to travel on. "Ok, any suggestions on how to get there?"

[1] – Do crickets chirp?

A/N: Sorry if this one sucked. It was all just kinda off the top of my head, so it probably doesn't make that much sense. All I wanted to do was move them from Kalm to Midgar, so I guess this chapter served its purpose. Hopefully chapter 5 won't suck so much ass. Oh, and remember to review and suggest a partner for Vince. Was it just me, or did he turn out a lot meaner than normal? Maybe he's just having a bad day…


	7. A Walk through the City

Disclaimer: My New Year's resolution was to own FFVII and it's characters/places… Shit, I broke it already.

A/N: Well, my ploy for reviews didn't work. Oh well. It was worth a shot. I completely forgot where I was supposed to be going with this chapter, so this should be interesting…

****

Chapter 5: A walk through the city.

It was already well after noon by the time the roar of the Highwind could be heard by the inhabitants of the Tranquillity. The buggy Dio gave them a year and a half ago had been given to Barret after AVALANCHE disbanded (he had won it by drawing lots). Before leaving his home town, well on it's way to reaching it's former, pre-Shinra glory, he had left it with his second in command; the vehicle had already made their rebuilding process much easier and he didn't want to take it away from them for his little trip to Kalm. He, Cloud and Cid left nearly 4 hours ago to pick it up. Almost everyone's faces perked up at the sound, except for Vincent (whose face never perked up). It was about time they got to do something.

An exasperated Cid flung open the front door and trudged in, followed soon by the equally tired figures of Barret and Cloud. _Whahaha! They're too tired to fight back!_ Yuffie couldn't pass up her opportunity to take a few free shots. "What's wrong with you guys? Looks like you just fought a dragon… and it smells like he crapped on you when he was done whoopin' you up."

Cloud wasn't going to answer. The look on his face clearly painted the picture of his discomfort, a picture Tifa knew far too well – Cloud was hungry. She half listened for an answer to Yuffie's question as she fixed him a bowl of cereal. It wasn't much, but it would have to do for now – they didn't have time for her to be whipping up a whole meal.

It took a second for Barret to catch his breath before he answered. "First, dem idiots I left at Corel went 'n' got dat damn buddy stuck in da mud 'n' WE had ta pull da fuckin' thing out. THEN dat damn Highwind's cargo door don't be comin' down all da way, so we had ta pick dat shit up 'n' put it in ourselves!"

Anger flared in Cid's eyes upon hearing someone bad mouth _his_ ship. "WHAT THE FUCK YOU SAY?!? My baby's not supposed to be some fuckin' CARGO SHIP! I told you stupid bastards that before we left!"

After fifteen or twenty more minutes of Cid and Barret arguing, Yuffie being a pest, Cloud's stomach rumbling, Tifa offering soothing words and Red simply wagging his tail, Vincent had had enough.

_After making plans to go retrieve the buggy, Cloud headed out to the Highwind to meet Cid and Barret, who were already on board. He was about to start his accent of the rope ladder when he caught a pair of cold, crimson eyes in his peripheral vision. "Vincent? What's wrong?"_

"Lucrecia is missing." Vincent responded with unusual speed. Cloud had over heard Vincent speaking of Lucrecia before. On the rare occasion that the dark man spoke about personal matters, he always hesitated to speak. When he spoke of Lucrecia, the hesitation was ten-fold. 

But from the man's response, Cloud knew that what Vincent had said was meant to be all business. That scared Cloud. Business involving Lucrecia, the mother of Sephiroth, plus a kidnapper wielding Sephiroth's Masamune, plus missing Jenova Project files, did not equal pleasant days ahead for the AVALANCHE crew.

Cloud didn't know what to say. He knew Vincent could already sense his fear. "I'm sure you already know Reeve's missing. I assume that's why you're here. You surely heard that idiot Reno blabbing about something being taken from Hojo's old lab, but something else was taken too. The Jenova files are gone. The same guy that has Reeve and Hojo's stuff took them." Cloud knew he was about to tread on thin ice. The only time he had seen Vincent fight was in battle, in which the ex-Turk had always kept his cool. Even perfectly calm and still seemingly detached, Vincent showed fighting skill that would surely incapacitate Cloud, if not kill him. He wasn't too excited to see (or feel) Vincent's reaction to anything anyone had to say about Lucrecia.

"Do you think Lucrecia is with him?"

Cloud could breathe again. Vincent had just said what he was too afraid to. "Yeah." Then, silent communication passed between the two. Vincent knew how Cloud felt – confused, indecisive, at a loss for words – all feelings a leader couldn't possess. Vincent had been a leader once too.

Cloud knew Vincent could tell what he was thinking. The two of them both knew, personally, that this coincidence meant a lot more for them than just finding a missing ally. "What do you think?"

Vincent returned to his hesitant self. Cloud had never asked Vincent's opinion on anything, but he could tell that the blond-hared leader was looking for more inspiration than Vincent's opinion on the matter. Unfortunately for Cloud, Vincent was never good at instilling hope in others. "I think that, if you believe in a god, you should start praying."

From his and Cloud's conversation earlier, Vincent was not only convinced that Lucrecia was with the man who took Reeve, but that Reeve was in danger. The only place the former Shinra head of Urban Development turned President held in the Jenova experiment was that he was a part of the company that once funded it.

So, with the firm belief that Reeve was in danger, along with his desire to find Lucrecia, Vincent decided that they had wasted enough time. Silently, he walked outside of the bar and swiftly flung himself onto the chocobo Barret rode in on a few days earlier. He hoped the massive man wouldn't mind him borrowing it. If AVALANCHE wasn't ready to move, Vincent would go by himself. He lost Lucrecia once because he didn't act. She fell ill because he didn't act. She was kidnapped because he didn't act. She would not become a part of that blasted experiment again for the same reason.

Most of the group was stunned by Vincent's actions. He may have independent and a loner, but he always waited for instructions from their leader before moving. On their journey to save the world, the tall, dark man would not even eat or sleep without permission from Cloud (even though after Cloud had given him "permission", he rarely did so anyway).

Before Barret had a chance to yell out "Where's dat bastard goin' wit my Chocobo?", Red cut in. "I think Vincent has a point." The canine waited until all confused eyes were turned to him before continuing. "We should leave now."

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. With Vincent gone and Barret, Cid and Cloud still dead tired, it was quite a mission getting the buggy off the Highwind. The event would've taken much longer if Yuffie hadn't intervened. The others in the group wished to protect the conditions of both the Highwind and the buggy, but Yuffie Kisaragi honestly didn't care about a dented bumper. If even _Vincent Valentine_, that cold corpse that never did _anything,_ was already on his way to save Reeve, then what kind of losers were they?

So, with her mischievous mind set on its objective, Yuffie's sneaky little thief hands made their way undetected into Cloud's pocket and retrieved the keys to the buggy. Much to everyone's dismay, she quickly bolted into the Highwind, jumped through the door of the buggy that Cid accidentally left open, and started the ignition. The rest of the group barely had enough time to move out of the way, let alone stop her. Soon, after the screeching tires quieted, the Highwind had tire marks all down her ramp, the buggy had a missing bumper and Cid nearly had a heart attack, but their problem was solved.

The little ninja poked her head of the driver's side window with a smile across her face that told she was far too pleased with herself. "Well what are you do-do birds waiting for? Get in!"

Cloud pulled the buggy around to Sector 2. They had been combing the perimeter (well, the portion of the perimeter the could comb with out being detected). So far, no sight of Barret's chocobo, and they all doubted Vincent would've been careless enough to let the bird run off. It was there, outside the gate of the Second Sector, that Maria's green feathers could finally be seen fluttering in the slight wind that surrounded the walls of Old Midgar.

Cloud pulled the buggy to an abrupt stop just in front of the gate. The buggy's contents poured out as quickly as they could (the group of 6 made the moderately small buggy seem like a clown car). The plate above the Sector 2 had fallen after Holy's battle with Meteor. Fortunately for people looking to get in to the Second Sector from outside of Midgar, the Second plate did fall quite as cleanly as the Seventh had. The forced not only blew out the support of the plate, but it also blew the plate itself towards the outskirts of the city. When it fell, it fell with a large crash onto the protective wall of Midgar. Of course, the sturdiness of Shinra construction had not given out completely, but the plate had reduced the height of the wall substantially. 

Before, scaling any part of the protective walls of Midgar was virtually impossible to any creature on the planet. Now, it was only virtually impossible to the normal human – not so much because of the great height that the remnants of the wall still possessed, but because of the perfectly smooth surface that provided no footholds. Fortunately for Vincent, he wasn't a normal human. Cloud's suspicions were confirmed upon the sight of the set of five, short, vertical gashes that appeared every so often along the wall. They resembled claw marks. Vincent had indeed scaled this wall.

"Ok." Cloud brought himself out of his thoughts of amazement spawned by Vincent's climbing skills. "Vincent can't be too far into the city. He only left a few minutes before we did, plus we had the buggy. That means he must've only reached here a minute or so ago. Two of us will climb up after him and the rest will head to Sector 5 and use the key. Once there, that group will split up into two smaller groups. Split up from there and comb Midgar sector by sector. If the kidnapper is still here, you all will find him. The two that stay here will, after finding Vincent, search the city for any possible escape route. If the kidnapper left the city, you will find out how."

Cloud stood silent for a moment, surveying his group. Some of them seemed a little surprised at his speech. He was never this formal before. Little did they knew how boring helping run a bar/inn was, and that he loved to watch cheesy action movies with SWAT teams and Special Forces in his spare time. "Yuffie, you stay here. You're small and agile, it shouldn't be that hard for you to scale the wall." _But who will go with you?_ Unfortunately, the only other member of the group that could easily climb this wall already did. Cloud ruled himself out. A huge Ultima Weapon strapped to your back meant running the risk of impaling yourself trying to climb a wall. Tifa might have made it over with out too much difficulty, but neither Tifa nor Yuffie had been good at handling surprise attacks. Together they'd be nearly helpless if the kidnapper snuck up on them. Barret was out of the question due to his size. Cid was out due to what his bad habit had done to his lungs.

"I can go alone." Yuffie's voice sounded as chipper as ever, but it only barely hid a slight tinge of fear. She was pretty sure there were no monsters left in Midgar after the whole Meteor thing, but that didn't mean the place wasn't still creepy. But, she knew what Cloud was thinking – no one else would be able to make it over the wall with her. So, she swallowed her fear and made a stand.

"No." Yuffie breathed a heavy sigh of relief at Cloud's answer. "There might still be a kidnapper on the loose in the city. None of us will be going anywhere alone."

"Cloud." The interjection came from below, where Red stood, almost ignored by Cloud's scrutinizing eye. Before Red could finish his statement, Cloud already decided Red was the least possible choice. With out the ability to stand upright and with no opposable thumbs Red would never had made it up the wall. "Cloud, I can run through debris pretty fast, if not held back by others."

Cloud knew where Red was going with this. He might not have liked it, but the silent plan was their only option. Red could handle himself alone better than Yuffie could. "Ok, Yuffie, you stay here and the rest of us will head over to Sector 5, but do NOT start scaling the wall. Once we get inside the walls, we'll send Red over here. We'll call you when he leaves. Give him 15 minutes and then start climbing. He should be waiting for you when you come down."

Red moved as fast as he could, but not fast enough for Yuffie's patience. She had given up her wait and began her accent. When she had received the call from Cloud, she tried to sound as natural and on the ground as she could. As Yuffie followed Red through the heavy debris near the wall out towards a more open area he had seen on his way in, she recalled how trusting Cloud had been. He hadn't even bothered to ask if she obeyed him. _What a sucker…_

It didn't take them long to reach the opening. They moved very quickly. Even though on most trips Yuffie complained about them going to fast, she kept her mouth free of complaints the entire trip. In truth, Yuffie never had any trouble keeping up with anyone, she just liked to complain, and since Red was moving so quickly so easily, she hadn't realized that she _should_ be complaining.

Once they reached the center of the clearing, Red stopped short and began to sniff. "He's been through here."

Yuffie had almost forgotten about Red's uncanny sense of smell. _Whahaha! Cloud made this TOO easy on me! With that nose we'll be out of here in no time…_"So, where'd our little vampy go?"

"I'm not sure." Yuffie's face contorted into a deep frown at Red' disappointing response, but his next words brightened her visage once again. "But he'll be back soon." 

If Yuffie had been some sort of video game character or something, a question mark might've appeared above her head. Instead, her face just contorted in confusion. Though the expression was amusing for a while, Red feared that if he didn't say something to help clarify things, Yuffie's face might stay that way forever. "His smell is too widespread here. There's no clear-cut path that he went – but he probably has run back and forth through here a number of times already. The scent is still somewhat fresh, so he probably will return here."

"So what do we do until then?'

"We wait."

"Ooo, sounds fun…" _God. Vinnie's even boring when he's not here…_

Cloud's body trembled with a mixture of fear and remorse. Tifa had insisted that they be the ones who looked through the remnants of Sector 7. They had no argument from Barret. As much as he loved Biggs, Jessie and Wedge, Barret had buried his past a long time ago. He buried it for the sake of Marlene, Corel, and himself. He didn't think his past would remain healthily interred if he returned to the place that spawned his true and utter hatred for Shinra. Cloud preferred to leave the past as past as well, but he knew Tifa needed to return before she could put her past to rest.

In her time as the owner of the Seventh Heaven and only friend to the original AVALANCHE, Tifa had grown very attached to those hooligans that slept in her secret basement. Barret was a strange mixture of the father she lost to Sephiroth's blade and the trainer she lost to his fire. He watched over her and protected her as closely as he did with Marlene. He also helped train her in ways he never wished Marlene would have to know. He didn't show her fighting techniques, but what he called "self-defense." He showed her how to tell when the train was coming too close to the ID scan. He showed her how to pick locks and to cover up her trail. Basically, he showed her all those near things that made being a terrorist easy.

But Barret was still able to show her all that anytime she asked him. What she had with the others was lost forever. Wedge would never be able to tell her how great her cooking was again. He always stood over her shoulder when she cooked. He never could seem to pick up any recipes well, but he sure did love to watch her go about making them. He would always be the first to taste her cooking and was always the first to compliment her. But he didn't just eat and hand out fake congratulations. He was always sincere and honest. He would always tell her what was off about her sauce on spaghetti day. In fact, his corrections were the reason she had become such a good cook. He was part of the reason her new inn was doing so well (in it's short time, Kalm's Tranquillity had become famous for serving some of the best food around).

Biggs would never give her another noogy (sp?). He was always the annoying older brother Tifa had wanted. Despite her very feminine physical features, Tifa was always looked at as a tomboy. In truth, it was probably because she could suitably knock out any man she met, but she always thought it was because she never had any brothers. At a young age, she took it upon herself to be her parents' daughter _and_ son. Biggs always made her feel more feminine by getting her upset about the little girly things that she didn't have the time to get upset over before. He'd put a fake cockroach in her bed one night and she screamed like a little girl (and woke half the sector up in the process). Another time, he'd put chewing gum in her hair and, for the first time in her life, Tifa pouted about something as superficial as hair. But, like an older brother, he was the one that calmed her down and showed her that the roach was fake, and he was the one that stayed up all night with her helping her wash the gum out of her hair. He also was the only one in the group that would have the courage to fight her when she was in one of her mood swings (Barret was too afraid to hurt her, Wedge was too afraid to get hurt, and Jessie didn't like fighting at all). He helped turn Tifa from the somewhat violent tomboy she was when she joined AVALANCHE into the beautiful woman she is today - who is not afraid to show her feminine side (or kick your ass either).

And she would never speak with Jessie again. Of all her fallen comrades, Tifa missed Jessie the most. Tifa and Jessie had both joined AVALANCHE at the same time, both sharing the title of "The First Women in AVALANCHE." Tifa and Jessie were both slum girls. Jessie was born and raised in the slums of Midgar. Tifa moved there shortly after the incident in Nibelheim. Jessie was the first person in the city to show any sort of kindness to Tifa. The two were very similar, and Jessie saw that right away. Tifa always said that Jessie saved her from the slums. Tifa always thought that the angry underbelly of Midgar would chewed her up and spit her out if it wasn't for Jessie. The two were nearly inseparable. Jessie knew every secret Tifa held, and vise versa. Jessie knew all about Tifa's infatuation with Cloud. From Tifa's detailed description of the blonde hared wonder, Jessie spotted him immediately that cold day in Midgar. She dragged the poor, confused boy all the way to the Seventh Heaven. It may have been Tifa that talked him into helping them out, but Jessie was the reason they found him.

Tifa looked thoughtfully at Cloud. _God, I can still remember how she raved about him._ Jessie had spoke of Cloud's amazing abilities that he displayed the night of the first reactor bombing. She was held in awe at how kind he had been to stop and help her leg free. Any other mercenary picked up off the streets of Midgar would've left her for dead. She stayed up with Tifa late that night talk about how well he fought, and how he had the courage to stand up to Barret. Jessie couldn't get over the blonde's flashy entrance onto the train. Jessie never said so, but Tifa could easily tell she had a crush on the ex-SOLDIER.

Tifa was violently pulled out of her thoughts by Cloud's tight grip. He pulled her quickly behind a piece of metal jutting out of the ground. "Cloud, what's g—"

Cloud cut Tifa's sentence short as he cupped his hand over her mouth. In a whisper so low Tifa could only barely make out his words, Cloud explained his actions. "There's a person over there. White under shirt, camo pants, SOLDIER issue boots. You can see him if you peek out to the left."

Tifa looked out from behind their hiding place to see the accurately described man looking around nervously. He sensed someone was there. It only took the soft brushing sound Tifa's long hair made as it contacted the ground below her to send the man running. "Wait!"

Cloud knew what happened when he heard Tifa's cry. Immediately he sprang into action, giving chase to the stranger. Tifa kept closely on his heels. A long, red strip of cloth bounced gracefully off the stranger's back as he ran swiftly though what was left of the Seventh Sector. He obviously knew the terrain well, far too well as far as Cloud was concerned. Cloud was determined they had found their man when he saw the figure dive head first into a ditch near the protective wall on the outskirts of Midgar. The figure easily slipped under and was off.

Cloud thought he had lost him, but finding the kidnapper's entrance into the city was counsel enough. Unfortunately, Tifa and Cloud were greeted with a disappointing sight when they made their way under the wall. There they stood in the heart of the large encampment now referred to as Neo-Midgar. _Shit…_ Cloud thought to himself. _He was probably just some ex-slum kid that snuck into the ruins…_

Yuffie was far beyond bored. She and Red had been standing there for nearly twenty minutes with no sign of the ex-Turk anywhere. They were about ready to forget about Vincent simply walking back over to them when Red said he smelt Vincent getting closer. That was about 5 minutes ago and still there was no sign on the clawed man.

"That's it!" Yuffie threw her arms in the air with frustration. "He's not coming Red! I'm lea—" Yuffie's little speech was cut short by two very loud sounds that both she and Red recognized as gunshots.

A/N: This took far too long to write. Damn me and my writer's block. But, you know what they say helps writer's block? REVIEWS!!! Much plutonic love to Reno Spiegel for being a very faithful reviewer, but c'mon people. Reno can't carry the weight of a world's worth of reviews by himself! If you don't review for my sake, do it for Reno! Anywho, yeah, I'm not very good at this whole suspense filled cliffhanger thing, but I went for it anyway (mostly because I didn't feel like writing this damned chapter anymore).


	8. Unstable Actions

Disclaimer: All right, all right, I DON'T own FFVII OR its characters OR its places. Do you have to keep rubbing my face in it?

A/N: Thanks once again to Reno Spiegel, my one loyal reviewer. Brace yourselves, this chapter should contain my first attempt at an action sequence.

****

Chapter 6: Unstable Actions

Vincent's heart rate slowly returned to isn't normal, slow, inhuman pace. His heart always heightened to a regular human's rate when he was "hunting." He stood in front of the still warm lifeless body of a boy. He was no more than 19 or 20. His body sported two bullet holes, one through the neck, the other through the forehead. Vincent was too busy surveying his victim to notice Yuffie and Red emerge from behind him.

"Oh GAWD, Vinnie! What did you do?" Yuffie's eyes were wide and unblinking, staring at the lifeless corpse of a boy not much older than she. She couldn't imagine what threat a seemingly harmless teenager could pose to Vincent. She was about to go berserk on the clawed man until Red gave her a slight nudge from behind and directed her attention to something on the boy. It was a Shinra issue automatic rifle.

Before either Yuffie or Red could speak, Vincent was gone. He took off with determination in his step. From the confidence in the way he ran, Red picked up that the man knew where he was going. It took the quaruped a few moments to stir Yuffie from her staring contest with the corpse, but soon they were on the tracks of their mysterious friend. 

Vincent's heart rate remained as slow as ever, but his feet moved at inhuman speed. He couldn't tell how far he had ran – maybe a mile, or only a few feet – but he found himself ducking behind some rubble for cover soon enough. He consciously raised his heart rate slightly, sending the extra blood to his ears. They were always more sensitive than normal when he did this. _One, two, three… seven… Two more agitated than the rest…_ He detected seven discernible heartbeats, minus his own made six. Six men stood behind his small barrier. They might not be well trained, but they had powerful weapons. From his years as a Turk, Vincent knew that untrained, scared, inexperienced resistance with an automatic weapon was much more deadly than any SOLDIER. He assumed the two agitated heat rates meant that at least two knew he was there.

But, much to Vincent's relief, his assumption was incorrect. Yuffie and Red were brought to a dead stop when they met the end of the Quicksilver's barrel. The young ninja girl would've screamed from a mixture of fear and surprise, but she was silenced by the golden finger of a metallic claw that stretch across Vincent's lips making the international sign for "Shut up."

Red could tell by Vincent's position up against the makeshift barrier that the people the man had been after were right behind him. He led Yuffie to follow suit and crouch next to Vincent. Before he had a chance to ask Vincent what their plan of action was, the man was moving. With lightning quick speed, Vincent was seemingly flying through the air, head first, gun drawn, towards the group of armed men. 

The single shot fired from the Quicksilver was answered by a ludicrous number of return fires from a set of four automatic rifles identical to the one strapped to the back of the boy Vincent had left lifeless on the ground so many feet back. Although his shots were well placed - his first de-arming the center figure, his second striking the same man dead – Vincent's crimson eyes were locked on another small barrier to the far right. Yuffie and Red came here because of him, but he wouldn't let himself become the reason they were shot.

Vincent considered himself very lucky that these three remaining men had no idea what they were doing. Anyone trained well enough with their weapon surely would've hit the target flying through the air. Vincent only received a few tears in his cloak as retribution for his risky move. Once safely hidden behind his new cover, the bullets didn't cease. They pounded unrelentingly upon his small shelter, sending sparks and pieces of brick flying everywhere.

Vincent knew he wouldn't fare so well if he emerged recklessly again. For a moment he pondered retiring his Quicksilver and pulling out the ever-powerful Death Penalty. The weapon packed enough punch to blow straight through the barrier and still be able to power its bullet long enough to strike down whoever stood behind it. _No!_ He knew that option was too risky – debris would surely fly wildly through the air as a result and could possibly strike either Red or Yuffie. It was moments like these that reminded Vincent why he liked to work alone. 

It was then, with his back pressed up against the pile of bricks and metal that had been protecting him, that Vincent's ears picked up a change in its surroundings. Now he only heard gunfire falling to his left. That meant that the man on the reverse side had stopped to reload his rifle. Now was his time to act.

With inhuman speed, he darted straight towards to man fumbling around for a new magazine. Though his gun was drawn, Vincent fired no bullet at the man. Instead, he let his human arm become intertwined with the right arm of the assailant while his metallic claw tightly gripped the man's left shoulder. Before the other two could respond and turn their fire towards the running man, a loud crack could be heard by all – Vincent had snapped the man's arm. 

Ignoring the man's pain filled cries, Vincent re-holstered his Quicksilver and quickly wrapped his hand around the weapon dangling limply from the injured man's hand. By the time his two companions could begin firing upon Vincent's new position, the injured fighter had become a human shield for the retreating AVALANCHE member. As he fell back in the exact opposite direction of Red and Yuffie, Vincent relentlessly returned fire with the automatic rifle that he had skillfully reloaded. Though the man's now lifeless body provided adequate protection for Vincent, it didn't stop two bullets from finding their way into his flesh. One took a strip of skin off of his human hand, but he did not stop firing. The other sliced straight through his left calf, but he did not stop moving. 

After taking more bullets than humanly possible, the man that injured Vincent's hand fell into a bloody mess on the floor. Vincent then took the risk of finally peaking his head out from behind his fleshy protection to send one well aimed shot through the final man's chest.

Vincent had already darted back to where Yuffie and Red laid confusedly behind a pile of rubble before the last man stopped coughing up blood. "Are you two OK?"

Yuffie shook the confusion from her head. She could barely comprehend what had just happened. She had never seen anything like it before in her life. No, she wasn't shocked by the display of carnage – she was used to that. What seemed like a ten-minute battle to Vincent had, in actuality, taken less than a full minute. To say that Vincent's moved with the speed of light would not be an exaggeration in this instance. "Of course, we're OK, Vinnie! Did you think we'd just up and die from being without you for a whole 30 seconds?"

Vincent ignored the sarcasm in Yuffie's voice. "Are you both OK to walk?" The blank look on Red's face and the Oh-Come-On-You-Big-Worry-Wart look on Yuffie's told him that they were quite all right to walk. "Good. Now leave."

"What?!" Yuffie shot to her feet at Vincent's silly request. "Leave?!? We just spend half an hour looking for you, and now you tell us to leave?!"

"Vincent, we have a job to do." Red's voice was unendingly calm in comparison to Yuffie's. "We are to look for any way Reeve's captors might have escaped. Now, Tell us what this was all about."

"…"

"C'mon, Vinnie! Stop holding out on us!"

"…"

"You're no fun!"

"…"

"Vincent, I am being very serious with you. I assumed you of all people would be responsible enough to see we have a man in need. We do not have time to be –"

Red's voice was silence when he left the cold, silver tip of the Peacemaker pressed against his nose. "I said leave." Although his body clearly spoke something different, Vincent's voice held no malice or anger. It was as calm and clear as it always was.

Red began to slowly back away with fear running rampant through his blood. He knew Vincent was a good ally. He had always protected them in battle and never seemed to try to harm any of them. But Red also knew that Vincent wouldn't hesitate to eliminate anyone who stood in his way. 

"Put the gun down." Yuffie's voice was filled with something very foreign to her: courage. As much as Vincent's dark demeanor had always given her the "creeps," Yuffie was never really afraid of him. It was probably because she was too young and innocent to realize just how dangerous an ex-Turk could be. 

The cold metal of Yuffie's Conformer sent a strange sensation through Vincent's body. It had been a long time since he let an enemy get close enough to him to feel their weapon on his pale skin. "Vinnie, I don't know what you're trying to do, but give it up and stop trying to shoot Red!"

Vincent's internal Turk smiled at Yuffie's display of fearlessness. He quickly spun on the girl and redirected his aim. As he did so, the sharp edge of the Conformer slit the skin of his neck open. That sick internal Turk smiled a demented internal smile again. In over thirty years, Vincent's skin hadn't been pierced by a blade. And to think, of all the battlers he'd come against in his years, _she_ was the one. 

Vincent let his heart rate return to normal before lowering his weapon. It wasn't until his arm once again hung at his side that Yuffie notice the cut that adorned Vincent's neck. "Oh Gawd, Vinnie! I'm so sorry!" 

The trickle of blood that dripped down his pale skin sent a shiver of fear down Yuffie's spine. _Oh Gawd! I hurt him! Now he's gonna kill me for sure!_

Vincent was mad, but he wasn't exactly sure why. Was he mad at Yuffie for cutting him? Was he mad at himself for letting his guard down enough to let her cut him? Was he mad at himself for letting them follow him there? Then, it suddenly dawned on him that he wasn't mad after all. By all rights, he should be, but he honestly didn't care. Yuffie could cut him all she wanted. After all, it wasn't Yuffie's fault – she was simply defending her friend. He truly was a monster – he was no longer capable of even the simplest, most common emotion – anger.

Despite his realization, Vincent's crimson eyes remained fixated on Yuffie. They stared, devoid of all emotion. This emptiness scared Yuffie far more than any amount of rage could. 

"Excuse me." Red's voice caught the attention of both figures that had previously been caught in an impromptu staring contest. He didn't know what to make of Vincent's, actions, but he didn't like them one bit. "I think perhaps we should be making our way back to the buggy. Today is not the day to find what we're looking for." As much as Red wanted to get this whole mess behind him, prolonging their mission by one more day would be much better than seeing Vincent snap.

When Vincent, Yuffie and Red had made their way back to the Buggy, they were pleasantly surprised to see their four comrades already waiting for them. Apparently, searching through the remnants of Midgar had been an easy job thanks to the efforts of Reeve. Nearly all the destruction from Meteor had been cleaned up, except for the two most damaged sectors – 2 and 7. 

"All right, we'll talk more when we get back to Kalm." Cloud once again took control of his reunited group. "We'll piece together what little information we have, and hopefully the Turks won't be much longer. I hope they found something more interesting. Barret, take your chocobo back. They rest of you – get in the buggy."

All started to move to their directed destinations, save for Red. "Cloud, I think it would be best if Vincent took the Chocobo back."

Vincent quickly understood the hidden meaning in Red's words. _Hmph. They finally have learned not to associate with monsters._ Vincent silently turned his back to his AVALANCHE teammates and headed towards Maria. Barret didn't put up an argument. As much as he loved his Chocobo, it looked like it was going to rain again. He'd much rather be cramped in a dry car than soak on a wet Chocobo.

Once everyone was secured in the buggy, Cloud turned his attention to Red. "What was all that about?"

The canine let the vehicle move a ways towards the highway before responding. "Vincent was acting very… strange." The stuffy silence urged Red to further explain his statement. "There were some men with guns that we encountered in the Second Sector. He quickly disposed of them, but then turned his weapon on Yuffie and I, insisting that we leave at once. I don't know what was wrong, but he certainly seemed ready to shoot if we didn't comply."

Shock was painted across both Cloud and Tifa's faces as they sat silently in the front seats of the buggy. They had never heard of Vincent acting like this to any of them before without a reason. Barret didn't keep his concerns as quiet as they did. "Dat mothafucker! Da lil shit's finally snapped."

"Now wait just a damned minute there!" Strangely enough, it was Cid's voice that attempted to quiet the angry Barret. "I may not be all that close to Vince or nuthin' like that, by I know the kinda man he is. That boy don't do nuthin' without a reason for it! That fucker won't eat or sleep without it being carefully thought out 'n' shit. We should ask him what's up 'fore we go jumping to some crazy ass conclusions!"

"Cid's right." Tifa's concerned voice came floating from her front seat. "But we all can't just come out and ask him. He's a very closed-off man. If we do that, he'll feel crowded and think we're accusing him. If he knows something, we don't want to scare him off. If we do, he just might never come back."

Cloud was a bit suspicious. There was a strange softness in Tifa's tone when she spoke of Vincent – a softness that didn't please Cloud in the least. He shook the notion from his head. Maybe it was fear that he was just perceiving as softness. "I'll talk to him, by _myself._" The stress placed on his last word was obviously meant for Barret, who seemed far too eager to confront Vincent. "We have something to talk about anyway."

A/N: Wow, that was a lot easier than I thought. Writing action scenes go a lot quicker than all this drama mumbo jumbo. At this rate, I might have two new chapters up in one day. Yay! Forgive me if it wasn't up to action-scene par – it was my first shot. I needed some practice cause there'll be a lot of brawls and gun fights coming in the future chapters. Oh, and please, _please_ review. Reno has kindly accepted taking on the whole reviewing load by himself, but that doesn't mean I can't still bug everyone else about it. And fear not, the Turks will return in the next chapter.


	9. Frightening Revelations

Disclaimer: me no ownie

A/N: I'm undermining my reviewers. I can't be discouraged by the lack of reviews if I start writing before anyone has a chance to review! So, two minutes after uploading chapter 6, chapter 7 is on its way.

****

Chapter 7: Frightening Revelations

It had been forty-five minutes since ALALANCHE left Midgar, but Vincent was still on route to Kalm. He didn't run into any trouble, and Maria wasn't some out of shape bird, but he had wanted to take his time. He barely pushed the Chocobo past a leisurely trot. He knew what Red must've told Cloud and the others in the buggy. Vincent could tell the canine was very suspicious of him. He wanted to give Cloud and the others ample to time decide what to do.

But it didn't matter to him what they would do. If they decided to attack him, Vincent would simply defend himself. He could handle them – he'd fought far worse forces before. He'd fight his way out of the building and leave, making sure to leave no one behind him with a serious injury. It didn't matter to him whether he had their help or not – he had to find Lucrecia. 

During his trip, the ex-Turk's mind wandered, but not to the woman he lost two weeks ago. Instead his thoughts centered around the five men he had killed earlier. Men? No, they weren't men. They were only boys. _I can't believe how young they were. Who would do such a thing to someone so young…_ He was utterly disgusted by what had been done to them. When he laid his eyes on those boys, none which were a day older than 19, he perceived something no one else had. To Yuffie and Red, Vincent had killed five armed enemies. To Vincent, he had put five poor, lost boys out of their misery.

Barret paced anxiously around the bar. He couldn't hold his anger. That freak had turned his gun on Yuffie. Yuffie was only 10 years older than Marlene for Christ's sake! How he could he threaten such a little girl! "Where da hell is dat one armed bastard!?!"

"That's it!" Cloud had had enough. His stress was high enough as it was. Reeve was missing. Reno was being a pain in the ass. He had a hunch Vincent was going to tell him something he didn't want to hear. He wasn't about to sit back and listen to Barret and Cid start arguing again about Vincent's whereabouts. "Everyone to your rooms. NOW!" Cloud's sudden anger quieted the rest of the group and sent them on their way.

Yuffie didn't bother to hold in her mutters as she ascended the stairs heading towards her room. "What's _he_ complaining about? He didn't have some creepy vampire holding a gun to _his_ head…"

Cloud simply shook his head at Yuffie's rant. _If only she knew how high Vincent's tensions were…_ As far as Cloud knew, he and Tifa were the only people that knew of Lucrecia's disappearance. He was shocked more by how well Vincent had been keeping his emotions in check. He had expected a lot more of a reaction from the disturbed man. He didn't want to tread on the thin ice he was going to when Vincent arrived, but he knew he had to. No matter how sensitive Vincent was about Lucrecia, Cloud needed to find out if the man posed a threat to him and his companions. _Where is he anyway?_

On cue, Vincent stepped through the door. The water left on him from the fresh rain rolled off of his cloak onto the floor. Had he been in the mood to speak, one could be sure Vincent would've apologized for the mess. 

"Vincent, we need to talk." Cloud wanted to get this over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. If he waited too long into the night that had snuck up on him, he might lose his ability to defend himself adequately if Vincent took what needed to be said the wrong way.

Cloud waited a moment more before assuming that silence would be Vincent's answer. "Red told me what you did. I'm not going to jump to conclusions. I know you know how to keep your head in battle. So, I'm just going to cut to the chase: did you see something that he and Yuffie didn't."

Another few moments passed by in silence. Vincent didn't seem too inclined to speak, but Cloud stood his ground well – he wouldn't continue until Vincent answered him. "I found, or rather, remembered a route that was hidden in the area. It is likely that the kidnapper has been coming and going freely through it."

Cloud was caught a bit off guard. He was expecting a much more dreadful answer. "Wait, what do you mean you _remembered_ a route?"

Vincent was not in the mood to give any sort of speech, but he knew Cloud would want details as to what he was about to say. He figured he'd save his breath and get it over with off the bat and avoid the twenty questions game. "When I was a Turk, Shinra was in a silent war with Junon. They held the prime spot on our continent for a port. The President wanted the town under his control. Negotiations with the mayor didn't go well, so he instructed the Turks to take care of the situation. Junon's military was formidable, and they strongly covered their exposed boarder. I ordered a free-lance construction crew to build an underground tunnel into the town. From there, we snuck in and 'pursuaded' Junon into giving in to Shinra's demands."

"Shit!" Cloud's mind raced at all the new possibilities. If the kidnapper could freely move from Midgar to Junon virtually undetected, that meant he could easily walk straight out of Junon with Reeve next to him without having anyone give him a second glance. Neo-Shinra had relinquished its hold on the cities under its command, Junon included. Neo-Shinra once again became a company only concerned with Midgar. That meant that few people outside of Midgar would recognize Reeve as Neo-Shinra's President. 

The kidnapper's access to Junon also meant his access to a cheap boat ride over to Costa del Sol – access to the whole western continent. This certainly was not good news, but Cloud sensed Vincent was still holding something back. "OK, I realize that this is terrible news, but that would give you reason to act towards Yuffie and Red they way you did. What were you doing?"

"…"

Cloud would not accept silence as an excuse. Vincent might not have liked his actions being called into question, but Cloud needed an answer. Plus, Cloud already had a hunch as to why Vincent had acted the way he did. "Vincent, were you protecting them from something?"

Crimson eyes locked on to Mako-Blue/Green eyes. _Those eyes…_ "Cloud, the men we encountered, their eyes had a glow to them…"

Cloud's face expressed a great deal of shock. "Mako? Were they SOLDIERs?!"

"No." Vincent's eyes slipped shut. He was afraid of what he was bout to say, as if keeping it silent would keep his statement from being true. "There was Jenova living in them…"

"Shit! Laney, are you sure you read that fucking print-out right?" Reno was tired, and this new revelation wasn't going to help him sleep at night. They had searched Hojo's lab top to bottom at least 10 times and still weren't ready to admit that the kidnapper had taken what they couldn't find.

"Listen, Reno! I don't want to believe it anymore than you do, but they're gone! Stuff like that doesn't just up and leave!" Elena stared at her check list. Everything on the inventory Hojo had last signed a year ago was present except for two very important items: an animation chamber and a large container of Jenova samples. The Turks had eavesdropped on too many conversations – they knew exactly what this meant. The rest of the needed supplies could be acquired easily, but these two items were crucial to a very twisted idea. Whoever took these things were probably planning on creating something VERY dangerous…

"Fuck, we need to find Valentine."

Rude kept quiet almost the whole day, but Reno's sudden interest in the former Turk sparked a bit of curiosity in the big bald man. "Why Valentine?"

Reno gave his partner a What-Do-You-Mean-"Why-Valentine" look. "Because Valentine's the only person still alive that has any fuckin' clue about the shit Hojo used to do. He knows all the ingredients and shit. He was there when they made that silver hared psycho bastard!"

After a few more minutes of Reno exclaiming that he couldn't believe this, the Turks were on their way back to Kalm. "Cloud's gonna shit a brick when he hears this."

Cloud jumped with surprise as the front door of Tifa's bar flung open violently; Vincent didn't seem phased. The Turks had returned. Reno wasted no time – he got right to the questions. "Valentine – what do you know about all that Jenova bullshit?" His demeanor seemed much more serious with his navy suit turning a darker shade of blue from the rain that had soaked into it.

Vincent fought the urge to roll his eyes. He just got finished explaining what he knew to Cloud, and now he had to answer to Reno. This was far too much talking for him in one day. "I know far more than I should."

Reno was flustered by Vincent's answer, but he held his anger to himself. _Can't that freak just gimme a straight answer? _But, since his answer was the least of Reno's reasons to be pissed off, he wouldn't take his aggressions out on Valentine. If you're going to make someone an innocent victim, make sure you'll be able to victimize them without them blowing a whole through your head. "Well, what do you think a shit head could do with a bunch of Jenova cells and one of Hojo's animation chambers?"

"Without a human specimen, or at the very least a colony of cells, next to nothing."

"Mother fucker! If that ass clown thinks he's going to use _my_ president as a specimen, he's got another thing coming." Reno couldn't help but smirk at the confused look on Cloud's face, but he decided to spare the terrorist from his confusion just this once. "That's the shit the kidnapper took from Hojo's lab. We only have him on tape taking the cells, but we're assuming he's responsible for the missing chamber as well."

Cloud sat on bar stool with his mouth wide open in sudden realization. _The men Vincent fought. Could someone have used that stuff to do that to them in only a day?! Holy shit…_ "Reno, could you do me a favor and get everyone from their rooms for me?" Cloud rotated, still suffering from a bit of shock, in his stool to face Vincent. "Vincent, I think it's time to tell everyone what we know. _Everything_ that we know."

A/N: Wahahaha! Two in one day! Albeit, there's only a few hours left in the day, but it's still the same day none the less. While writing this chapter I received two, that's right TWO, not ONE review for the last chapter. Once again, thanks to the ever present Reno Spiegel and also to my newest reviewer Mewie9! Now I have two votes for the romance section of this fic. Anyone else care to throw their two cents in? It would be much appreciated. Sorry for the lame attempt at suspense, but I thought it was as good a place as any to cut off the relatively short chapter. Don't worry, I will throw in the upcoming conversation – I know I already put in everything that would be said in the story, but some might need a refresher course.


	10. Time for a Recap

Disclaimer: I own everything……. What?…….... So you think that's a lie?……… Well, maybe it is…….… You want the truth? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!……….. Oh, really?……. So you _can_ handle the truth…… Well, if that's the case, Square owns it all….

A/N: Much asexual love to my reviewers. That's right, reviewerS, plural. If I were the type of person to give "props" I'd be giving them to Reno Spiegel, who has kindly offered to host Times of Separation on his site. I'd also like to thank Windwalker for pointing out that I'm only accepting signed reviews. Ooops.

****

Chapter 8: Time for a Re-cap

Cloud paced nervously in front of the group before him. He had never liked it when the other members of AVALANCHE would confront him during their journey last year and ask him to "re-cap" for them. He was always afraid he would leave something important out. Even more so, he usually felt just as confused as the rest of them. But this time, he knew that most of them knew next to nothing about what was happening. They had been quickly assembled just two and a half days ago and most of them happened to miss the important breakthroughs.

"OK, is everyone here?"

"Damnit, you spikey headed foo! Ya can see all nine o' us sittin right in front o' ya!"

Cloud paced a bit more as he took in the nine people sitting in front of him. Barret and Tifa sat nearest to him, in front of the group. A few tables had been pushed away and chairs lined up, making this feel a bit too formal. Luckily, the stuffy air had been lightened a bit upon the arrival of Cid and Yuffie, who took it upon themselves to move their chairs where ever the saw fit. 

Cid sat a few feet behind Barret and Tifa. Red was contentedly curled up near the old pilot's feet. Yuffie's chair rested a few feet away from Cid's. Reno had pulled up a chair close to Yuffie. The two had been annoying each other like little children for the past few minutes: Yuffie occasionally pulling on Reno's ponytail with Reno firing back with a well placed flick. Elena watched the two from here chair to the left of Reno, shaking her head at their immaturity.

Then came the standing figures. Rude stood with his arms folded across his chest in silence behind the other two Turks. The man exuded an aura of professionalism at all times. In the far corner of the bar resided an equally silent and professional Vincent Valentine. 

A smile almost slipped across Cloud's face as he compared the two. Maybe there always had to be a silent serious Turk at all times, and in Vincent's day, he held the position that Rude did currently. Cloud would've told Vincent to move closer – he seemed a bit too far away to catch everything – until he remembered Vincent's sensory "enhancements."

And the tenth member of the group was the still pacing Cloud Strife. "OK. A lot has happened and been found in the past two days, and I'm sure a lot of you are lagging behind. I'll do my best to fill you all in, with hopes that Vincent and Reno won't hesitate to jump in and clarify something I get wrong."

Another quick look around at the faces in the room told Cloud that he had better get going, boredom was sinking in. "So, let's start from the beginning. Reeve was kidnapped three days ago. We don't have a definite motive, by we know that whoever took him at least needed him to gain access into the abandoned Shinra Building."

"Wait." Tifa's voice cut in. "What do you mean 'whoever'? We still don't know?" Tifa had a hunch that what Vincent had to tell Cloud a few minutes ago during their private meeting would be who the kidnapper was. Apparently she was mistaken.

"No, we don't." Cloud didn't bother to waste time explaining why they didn't, this would be a long story and he wanted to get it over with. "So, the kidnapper uses Reeve to get in to the Shinra Building. From there, the kidnapper proceeds to disable the security system the Turks had in place, restore power to the building, and takes a few things with him. The Jenova Project files were stolen along with some lab equipment. Everyone's got that, right?'

Cid took it upon himself to answer for the whole group. "Yea yea, we already fuckin' know that, kid! We were all there for that bullshit!"

"Ok, ok. Now's where the new information comes in. First, the Turks went back to the Shinra Building to investigate what had been stolen…"

Reno abruptly stopped poking Yuffie in the side as Cloud said the name of his organization. He wasn't going to let this blonde-hared loser speak for him. "Yeah, we did." 

After sufficiently cutting Cloud off, Reno stood up and, with hands in his pockets, casually walked up to the front to stand near Cloud. "We went there to take a look at the last inventory Hojo signed before everything went to hell last year. We compared that to what was still in the lab. Hojo was always a paranoid bastard, afraid people would steal his shit, so we knew he wouldn't have missed a thing. There were some minor pieces of shit missing, empty test tubes, beakers, that sort of crap, but there were two biggins gone, too. An animation chamber up and vanished along with a shit load of Jenova cells."

"Hold on now! What da fuck's a animation chamba?"

Reno didn't miss a beat. "An animation chamber is what Hojo would use to speed up his creative processes. When he made monsters out of humans, he'd just pile a bunch of Mako into a closed space with a human. But, the process would take years and years, so if he wanted quick results, he'd through it all in an animation chamber. He can also bring someone who was practically dead, but not quite part of the life stream yet, back to full health in one of these. It does some kind of physical therapy or some shit. That's also how they higher up in SOLDIER, like Cloud, got that crazy look in their eyes. You shower them in Mako, then, without letting them wash off, you throw em in an animation chamber. In just a few minutes, the Mako is forced in through the pores and then into the blood. Beats the hell out of the injections they used to use: the affects kick in a lot quicker and the results are a lot more stable." 

Reno couldn't help but smile at how smart he was sounding. It paid off to ease drop on Hojo. He was on a roll, but decided to quit while he was ahead and turn the talking duties back over to Cloud.

With a quick clearing of his throat, Cloud jumped right back in. "So, our kidnapper has Reeve, Jenova cells, and an animation chamber. These are potentially deadly combinations. Fortunately, the Jenova cells won't survive in a human body without a certain percentage of Mako in the bloodstream of the specimen. That's why a lot of the Sephiroth clones were part of SOLDIER – they already had enough Mako in them to support the experiments." 

Cloud shuddered at the memories of what Hojo had said to him so long ago about being nothing more than a clone. _No!_ Hojo was dead. Cloud wouldn't let a dead madman play mind games with him. 

Cloud's eyes scanned the room until they fell upon Vincent. The man remained unmoving in his dimly lit corner of the room. The man's body had been so still the whole time, Cloud had almost thought Vincent had fallen asleep, but two glowing, crimson red orbs floating in the darkness told Cloud otherwise. 

Vincent didn't seem inclined to inform the group about Lucrecia, so Cloud took it upon himself. "But, unfortunately, things have still gotten a bit more dangerous. Lucrecia was kidnapped as well, a few weeks ago." 

Cloud quickly caught Tifa's eyes straying towards Vincent. He was sure they would be just the first of many sets that would stare upon the man in shock. Vincent wouldn't like that one bit. Cloud quickly spoke in an attempt to draw attention back to him. 

"Well, I don't know if you all are aware, but at one time Lucrecia was a large part of the Jenova Project. She was more important than even Sephiroth himself for a time being. So, we're missing Reeve, Jenova cells, an animation chamber, every file in the Shinra Building concerning the Jenova Project, and Lucrecia. I think that about covers it. Any questions?"

Nearly everyone in the room started speaking at the same time. There were questions, and a lot of them. But, despite the racket being cause by seven or eight different voices trying to talk over the other, a deathly low voice from across the room still managed to reach Cloud. "… the tunnel…"

"Oh yeah!" Cloud waved his hands about and cleared his throat to regain the focus of the large group. "Thank you, Vincent, for reminding me. During our search of Midgar earlier today, Vincent found the probable route that our kidnapper has been using. There's an underground tunnel that runs from Midgar directly to Junon."

Reno's face turned into one of shock at the sudden realization. "The old Turk Tunnel! I can't believe I forgot about that! Fuck! I knew that fucking thing was long, but I didn't think it went clear to fucking Junon!"

"Well, it does. And it's very likely that our kidnapper has been entering and leaving the city through it. Oh, and that wasn't the only thing Vincent found…" Cloud's eyes locked with Vincent's. He wanted the ex-Turk to explain this himself. After all, he was the one to see it, not Cloud."

Reluctantly, Vincent agreed to Cloud's silent requested. He braced himself (he hated speaking in general, let alone in front of ten people), then opened his mouth. "Yuffie, Red and I encountered some men in Midgar. They were Mako enhanced and injected with a substantial amount of Jenova cells…"

Simultaneously, Yuffie and Red both came to a realization. Red held his head low in shame. _So that is why he wanted us to leave. He was only trying to protect us…_ Red couldn't believe how easily he had doubted Vincent's motives.

Yuffie's eyes were wide in surprise. _Wow… Those guys were enhanced with that crazy stuff? And Vincent just took them out in a few seconds like it was nothing… And GAWD! I was right next to those freaks and didn't even know the difference!_ Yuffie remained in awe at Vincent's skill, but chose not to dwell on her unobservancey. 

Now, all eyes were on Vincent. He felt them scanning him. He could feel at least one pair resting on his metallic claw. He assumed it was from one of the Turks, someone not used to seeing the monstrosity as often as the AVALANCHE members were. He could feel others trying to look into his eyes. Even after traveling with them for nearly a year, Vincent knew most of his former teammates were still scared stiff by his eyes. 

He sat there for a two or three minutes, feeling the eyes dig into him like the needle of that twisted professor. He couldn't take it any longer – them probing him in the silence. Surely speaking would be better than this.

"I assume that whoever took that equipment used it to alter them. He might've had access to some Mako through Reeve, or he used former SOLDIERS. But I'm sure that the operation was recent. If the Jenova cells had been in them long enough to fully develop, I can assure you we wouldn't have made it out so easily." 

The whole time Vincent spoke, his eyes darted all around the room trying to avoid eye contact. He had spoken much longer than he intended, but he knew silence would only give these humans more time to search him and silently ridicule him. Finally his eyes fell on Cloud and silently begged him to speak.

Whether Cloud had heard Vincent's unspoken request, or he just knew it was his turn to speak, Cloud opened his mouth once again. "And that's everything we know." The simple statement managed to draw all looks back to the front of the bar, where he remained standing. "Unfortunately, there are still a lot of gaps, but we do have more to go on now than we did before. Tomorrow we head to Junon to look for our man."

"Correction." Reno strode back up to the front of the room, hands placed in his pockets. "Tomorrow, _you_ go to Junon. _We_ will be heading back into Midgar. We'll borrow some welding equipment from some of the workers in the Neo-Midgar camp. We know where the entrance to the Turk Tunnel is. If that's what that bastard has been using, he's won't be using it after we're done with it."

Cloud was shocked. Reno hadn't interrupted him to start some petty argument, but to make a valid point. Maybe he had the Turk pegged wrong. "Plus, Turks don't take orders from terrorists." Or maybe not.

"Hey, Cloud!" This time, it was the deep voice of Barret Wallace that cut in. "Don'tcha think someone should be headin back to dat damn Shinra hell-hole and look for da damned cat? I mean, if Reeve controlled him, maybe dat thing's got some fuckin' beacon or some shit on it."

Strange, another interruption that was helpful. Things were starting to look up. Maybe tensions were finally starting to ebb away. "Good thinking, Barret. Cid, you'll head up that team. If something's wrong with Cait Sith, you'll be the only one with the know how to fix it." 

Cloud quickly glanced around the room. "Take Yuffie and Vincent with you." 

Cloud wasn't sure what to expect if they found their kidnapper in Junon. He wanted as much strong firepower as he could get to head to Junon. Yuffie was very agile and quick, but if it came down to a brawl, he still had doubts if the ninja youth could handle herself or not. 

Vincent, although probably a stronger fighter than any of them, simply couldn't go. If they did find their kidnapper and he had Lucrecia with him, Cloud couldn't be sure how Vincent would react. The last thing they needed was the Chaos beast reeking havoc all over Junon.

After another hour or so of useless chatter (which, although useless, helped keep the group sane), everyone shuffled off to bed. Tifa was the first to go, followed by Rude and Elena. A few minutes later, Cid and Red retired to the room they had agreed to share. After returning from picking up Marlene, Barret headed up stairs with his sleeping, adopted daughter in his arms.

After another half hour of watching TV and being a nuisance, Yuffie made her way up the stairs. She was followed closely by Reno, who was playfully tugging at her hair. The two seemed to be getting along well, too well for Cloud's liking. As much as it made sense, both were immature and annoying, Cloud didn't like the idea of any of his friends getting close to any of the Turks, especially Reno.

Cloud soon felt gravity start to take a hold of his eyelids. It was time for him to head off as well. As he mounted the stairs, he caught a glimpse of Vincent. The man had not left his corner spot all night. "Oh, Vincent. You can stay in my room with me if you'd like. Or I'm sure Barret or Cid and Red wouldn't mind."

Vincent's emotionless eyes didn't even bother to look for Cloud before he answered. "I'm fine down here."

With a shrug, Cloud returned to his trek up the stairs. He didn't give it much thought. In fact, he wasn't even sure if Vincent slept. 

A/N: Well, that little explanation speech was a lot longer than I thought it would be. And there wasn't enough angst and silly arguing! I'll have to make up for that later. Be warned the next chapter will probably just be for character development and planting the seeds of some possible (but not definite) future romances. But, fear not, if you're looking for plot, the next update will be a double one. The next chapter with all it's plot-less development goodness, and then the following one where we head out to Junon. Oh, and pwetty pwease review.

A/N2: For everyone interested in character history/interaction and all that good stuff, keep an eye open for a series of one-shots coming up. They'll consists of short, in-game (and maybe a few pre-game) scenes that'll show some history. The only one I have written (or at least partially written) is with Vincent and Tifa – to help explain why she thinks they should be able to talk to each other so easily.


	11. Interlude: Restless Night

Disclaimer: I own a copy of FFVII, but Square owns the big sha-bang

A/N: Lots of char. development coming up. Brace yourselves. Plot will come next chapter. Thanks once again to everyone who reviewed.

A/N2: I am SOOO SORRY that this took so long. You mad at me?

****

Interlude: Restless Night

Vincent sat in the still silence of the empty bar, fighting with his inner demons. He let the darkness absorb him as he focused his attention inward. He felt something stirring in him the past few weeks - Chaos. As much as he feared the stirring, he was strangely comforted by the feeling.

He had felt the stirring before, but not in battle. In battle it was something completely different. When fighting, Chaos fed on a combination of Vincent's superficial anger and his physical fatigue. Then Chaos just came upon Vincent with no warning. But this strange stirring wasn't Chaos' style. When the beast wished to emerge, he would just begin to hijack Vincent's body.

This sensation was like the demon was trying to talk to him, but without words. Chaos could "speak" inside of Vincent's mind whenever it pleased. Vincent heard it, but never could understand the demon's strange language. 

But this was different, Vincent couldn't hear it, but feel it. It was a feeling he didn't like. Vincent felt it on his way to face Hojo again. That time the feeling was distinct - blind, hateful, unending rage. Chaos wanted Hojo dead just as much as Vincent did.

Vincent felt it on his way into the Northern Crater. He recognized the feeling as apprehension, doubt. Chaos didn't seem eager to fight Sephiroth. The demon only came to him a few times in the long, grueling battle. It was as if the demon was trying to tell Vincent not to fight Sephiroth, not to fight his…

A loud crash cut Vincent's reverie off. After no following screams or such occurred, he assumed both the members of AVALANCHE and the Turks were all right. _AVALANCHE…_

The thought of his former teammates brought Vincent back to the original reason he was pondering the demon's actions. This feeling was telling him to leave. He had wasted enough time with these people; Chaos wanted him to get a move on. _But I shouldn't leave them behind. Not without warning, at least. I owe them that much._

He could feel the beast mocking him. How pathetic he was - afraid to leave a few humans behind. He was just using them as an excuse so he wouldn't have to act. Excuses were all he ever had. Why didn't he save Lucrecia from Hojo's experiment? Because she asked him not to interfere? Nothing more than an excuse! Why did he leave her in that cave by herself to fall ill? To save the world from the unending evil of Sephiroth? Another excuse! And now he was staying here because he didn't want to leave without saying goodbye? What a load of crap! Excuses were all Vincent ever had. Just another excuse. The truth is that he is nothing more than a coward.

__

Demon! Quiet, NOW! Vincent couldn't handle the negative thoughts the demon was feeding him at the moment. Whether or not he agreed with Chaos' accusations didn't matter, he had to think. The demon might have been giving a valid argument, but underneath it, the demon hoped to take control of Vincent. He wouldn't give in, especially not in a building full of peaceful bystanders. 

So, after successfully sending the demon back into the recesses of his mind, Vincent was faced with two choices. He could leave to find Lucrecia on his own, while running the risk of being a rude guest and being overwhelmed physically (as strong as he was, Vincent acknowledged the fact that Cloud and the others would be a great help). Or he could wait until morning and follow the directions Cloud would be sure to provide, while running the risk of leaving Lucrecia with her kidnappers past her usefulness.

Suddenly another loud crash from the same area of the bar/inn brought Vincent from his thoughts. It also made up his mind for him. If, in less than ten minutes, one of the great, "invincible" AVALANCHE members had fallen out of bed twice, there was no way Vincent would leave them on their own with a healthy conscience. If the kidnapper didn't kill them, their clumsiness would.

Yuffie was rudely woken by the harsh pain shooting through her body caused by the hardwood floors that covered every inch of Tifa's establishment. _Stupid beds_. Despite her time outside of her homeland, Yuffie never got used to any sleeping apparatus outside of Wutai. When you slept on nothing more than a pad on a floor, you ran no risk of falling. 

"Stupid Easterners and their floating beds!" After her outburst, Yuffie clamped her hand around her mouth. Usually she didn't mind waking up her AVALANCHE cohorts, but staying in a room next to the Turks forced Yuffie to rethink her actions.

As she laid herself back down into bed, the bruise forming upon Yuffie's backside made itself known. _Oww!_ Despite her drowsy state, Yuffie remembered to keep her voice in check. Perhaps Tifa had a medicine cabinet downstairs to help mend her wounds?

Yuffie wasn't sure, but she was about to find out. From her sitting position on her bed, Yuffie flung herself with a thud, feet first upon the floor. It felt good to wake up with the familiarity of her boots strapped snuggly to her feet. _Good, no creepy Vinnie incidents tonight…_

__

Reno…

That voice. He could never forget it, not after all these years…

__

Reno…

Or has it really been that long…

__

Reno…

No, it hasn't been that long since he heard her voice. But it _has_ been years since he heard her say his name…

__

Reno, don't go…

Four, five years maybe? Four years. It was four years ago when she stopped calling him Reno. In more recent occasions, she opted to call the young Turk "bastard" or "no good son-of-a-bitch."

__

Reno, please don't do this…

Hmph, he liked it that way anyway. No one should love a Turk. He would've like it better if she never spoke his name again.

__

Reno…

But that stupid girl never did what Reno liked. She had to call for him one more time…

"Reno, don't hold it against them…"

It was her voice that ripped Reno from his dream. Why was he dreaming of her some much lately? _Fuck!_

Reno got to his feet silently and, after grabbing his flask, surveyed the room. Rude laid sound asleep in his bed while Elena snored loudly in an identical bed across the room. The two held true to their vocal reputations even in their sleep.

As Reno's lips rejoiced in the sweetness of the amber hitting them, his eyes soon fell upon the pile in the corner consisting of his jacket and dress shoes. In a few seconds, his shoes were laced tightly around his feet and his jacket hung unbuttoned on his shoulders, covering the back of his untucked shirt.

He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, but he needed to stop this dream. Or did he think of it as a nightmare? It didn't matter to him at the moment, he just didn't want to deal with it right then. He needed some fresh air.

As his hand reached for the doorknob, Reno recalled a pair of blood red eyes. _Shit! Valentine's out there..._ He didn't think the cold, ex-Turk would interfere with Reno's late night walk, but he didn't want to chance it. The window was a much better option...

__

GAWD! All I see here is alcohol, alcohol, and more alcohol... What is this place, some kind of bar!? Yuffie was quite displeased with the lack of medinical items she found in the pantry behind Tifa's bar. She knew Tifa was too much of a worry-wart to run an establishment without at least a few potions and bandages laying around.

As she turned to begin her search of the rest of the main floor of the building, a frightening pair of eyes scared her to the ground. "GAWD, Vinnie! Why do you always have to be sneaking up on me?!?"

Vincent simply ignored her question and extended a hand to help her to her feet. Once Yuffie was flat footed again, Vincent's lips parted. "What did I tell you about drinking?"

Yuffie's eyes flared in anger. _Who does this creepy bastard think he is, accusing ME!? _"GAWD! For you information _Vincent Valentine_, I was _not_ looking for a dri--"

"Quiet." The last thing Vincent wanted was Yuffie to wake up the rest of the building. It was hard enough dealing with her, let alone trying to explain what was going on to the rest of AVALANCHE and the Turks.

In a hushed, pleading voice, Yuffie argued her case. "I was just looking for a potion or something for my achey little bum." Yuffie put on her best, innocent, puppy-dog eyes.

Those eyes were met by Vincent's cold crimson spheres as his claw fumbled around in the pocket of his cloak, until producing a potion which Yuffie quickly downed. The cold sting of metal that Yuffie had come to recognize over the years as Vincent's prosthetic hand silently lead her to a nearby chair. 

Yuffie eased herself down, making sure not to put any weight on her injured leg. As she shifted uncomfortably (partially from the pain, partially from being alone with Vincent), a human hand searched Vincent's cloak until it brought out a roll of gauze and a small, unmarked bottle.

Yuffie's eyes went wide in surprise. "Vinnie, it's not that bad. No need for surgery."

Vincent ignored her protest and began work on Yuffie's leg. She needed the medical attention, and Vincent needed something to ease his mind…

Tifa jumped from the swinging bench on the patio of her bar when she heard a low thud a few feet away. Her heart began to beat slightly faster with fear. As she tightened her Premium Heart around her fist as she inched her way towards the edge of the deck. Her hear began to beat even faster, this time with anger, when she saw the source of the noise. 

"Reno! What the hell are you doing?" 

"Getting some fresh air. What's it to ya?" 

"I didn't think being a cold heartless killer meant you couldn't have the courtesy to use a door instead of trampling my flowers." 

Reno had had enough. It was late, he was dead tired, Cloud had been pissing him off for the past few days, Elena's snoring was keeping him awake, and he had just dreamed of _her_: he wasn't going to take this. "You know what, shut up. Just. Shut. Up." 

Tifa was in no better of a mood. She used the night like a release similar to Vincent's: he needed his peaceful nights to regenerate his ability to tolerate being around people; she needed her peaceful nights to regenerate her ability to cheer everyone up.

"No, Reno. I won't just shut up. You have done nothing but complain and pick fights with everyone since you got here. What's your problem?"

"My problem is that I'm being forced to work with a bunch of low-life terrorists!" Reno's words were partially true. He was indeed bothered by AVALANCHE's involvement in the recovery of Reeve, but that was only one of his many problems.

Tifa was fuming. How the hell could he have the nerve to call her and her friends terrorists? They just got done saving the world, for crying out loud! "Listen to me, Reno. If you call me or any of my friends a terrorist one more time, so help me God, I will pummel you into oblivion! And how are we the low-lives?!? You're the murderer!"

"Murderer? Don't act like you've never killed anyone! I was just doing my job, what's your excuse?"

"I was trying to save the world, damn it! Why am I being penalized for that?"

"Bullshit! Yeah, you and your do-gooder friends saved the world from that silver-hared psycho, I'll give you that, but what about before Sephiroth came around? What was your excuse then?"

Tifa's mind suddenly went reeling. Before Sephiroth? Tifa had managed to block that sad part of her life out a long time ago. _Before Sephiroth, I was… I was… nothing more than, a… I was…_ Tifa couldn't even bring herself to think the word that Reno had been using so freely lately. Before Sephiroth came along, before she and Barret set out to save the world, AVALANCHE was a terrorist group.

Two years ago, Mako was only one of the few problems Barret, Tifa, Jessie, Biggs and Wedge had with Shinra. All of their lives had been partially ruined by Shinra. Barret lost his home town and took the blame for it. Tifa lost her hometown and her father. Biggs was a former SOLDIER before Shinra took everything he had: his home, his job, his now deceased wife. Wedge's parents were beaten to death by Shinra guards for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jessie was a slum girl. She grew up in the city that she loved, a city that Shinra was slowly destroying.

Stopping Shinra's abuse of the planet's resources was only one part of the original AVALANCHE's plan. The bulk of it was revenge. President Shinra and his goons had destroyed their lives, now it was their time to do a little destruction. And that's just what they did: destroyed. Shinra offices were blown to pieces. Shops that were run by Shinra supporters were robbed. Guards were killed at night. Executives were mugged and beaten. Homes on the plate were burnt to the ground. All in the name of revenge.

Tifa never really supported all the actions of her AVALANCHE members, but she would never dream of leaving them. She didn't want to kill people, but she sure as hell wanted Shinra to pay. She lost her father to Shinra, so she wouldn't really mind if some Shinra exec's kid lost their father to AVALANCHE. But she always had a premonition about doing it herself. That was why she usually tended the bar while the rest headed off on missions.

Usually, but not always. Tifa vividly recalled the first time she ever saw Reno. She passed by the red headed Turk in broad daylight as she, Barret and Jessie posed as tourists taking a walking tour through the main floor of one of Shinra's office buildings. That office building would become AVALANCHE's first bombing. She saw Reno again later that day. She ran past him as she fled the scene while he ran frantically back into the burning building.

"You remember now, don't you? A don't try to act like it was just the others. Don't tell me you were back at the bar, because I saw you. Do you know how many people died that day? Do you have any idea how many innocent lives _you_ stole that day? The people that died that day had nothing to do with your pain. They were just trying to earn an honest buck in a cut-throat city. You sent them to their death just because the showed up for work!"

Despite Reno's constant use of "they" and "them", Tifa had a feeling in her gut that he was upset about one person and no one else. Sometimes Tifa wished she didn't have such instinct when it came to others. "Reno, I'm –"

"Can it! Don't you dare tell me that you're sorry. Tell it to Rude. Maybe he'll listen. He needs it more anyway…" The ferocity that once filled Reno's voice was completely drained. Now he spoke sullenly.

"Reno, what do you mean?" Tifa's voice was suddenly filled with concern. Concern was not something Reno was looking for.

"Bite me."

"Reno, please don't walk away." Tifa's voice began to crack as her eyes welled with tears. There was too much going on in her head. Reeve, someone who she had grown very close to over the past year, was missing. Reno and Cloud were constantly fighting. They were getting no closer to finding Reeve. The items that had been found lead her to think that the events of a year ago might replay themselves. Vincent seemed on edge (something potentially dangerous to everyone within a hundred mile radius). Yuffie had broken in to her liquor cabinet. Tifa could handle any of this any more. She was about to snap.

"Reno, don't blame me for something that you do every day of your life!" Her voice was filled with a sudden rush of anger and energy, but it quickly reverted back to teetering on sobbing. "Reno, don't blame me for wanting to take my life back. I was only a little girl. The only things in my life were my father and my town. They were the only things that hadn't left me. And they took them both away from me. That sadistic president and that bastard…"

Tifa couldn't hold back any longer. She didn't want to hold back. She had been holding back for as long as she could remember. She hadn't let herself cry in front of anyone else since the death of her father. She hadn't let herself cry _at all_ since she joined AVALANCHE. She fell to her knees and let the water flow.

The tears that rolled off her chin were tears for her father, brought upon by Reno, but that's not all. They were tears for Nibelheim. Tears for Jessie, Biggs and Wedge. Tears for Aeris. Tears for the love that she and Cloud will never share. Tears for Reeve. Tears for a suicidal Vincent. Tears for a soon-to-be-father Cid, who had no idea how to raise a child. Tears for the still impressionable Yuffie. Tears for poor Marlene who has already suffered far too much as such a young age.

The tears that rolled off Tifa's chin were enough to break down Reno's pissed-off armor. He fell down on one knee in front of Tifa. He desperately searched for words. So many years of sarcasm and insults had left the sensitive side of Reno almost empty. He remained there for a few moments, gently rubbing her back to ease her sobs.

There was something in Tifa's eyes that had caught him. The look she had was comepletely unnatural when compared to the cheery smile she wore at all times. She was actually hurt. The hurt reached out and grabbed Reno.

"Hey, Tif. Don't worry. Both President Shinras and Sephiroth are dead now. And about your father and Nibelheim, well, what's past is past, right?" Reno felt like the biggest hypocrite. What's past is past? Ha! Reno's whole life was fueled by the past, a past he refused to accept.

But, luckily enough, Reno got to her. Tifa wasn't exactly sure if it was what he said, or just the fact that _Reno_ of all people was trying to cheer her up, but something ease her cries. In another few moments, fresh tears came no more.

Tifa made her way to the swinging bench beside her while Reno straightened his back into an upright position. They remained this way for what seemed like an eternity (but was actually more like ten minutes), one swing to soothe herself, the other standing perfectly still to calm himself. It was a very awkward time for both of them.

Tifa decided to break the ice. She wasn't sure how Reno would react, but the question had been eating away at her. "Reno. Who died in that building?"

Reno's chest tightened as he heard the question that he knew was coming. "Someone important, to both me and Rude." He wasn't sure whether he was too tired to restrain himself, or if the moon out this late at night had infected his brain, or if just maybe that look in Tifa's eyes a few minutes ago had really touched him, but Reno didn't feel like holding back.

He had been readying himself over the past few minutes to tell Tifa the whole sad story. After all, he knew her story. Plus, there was that look (and I'm sure the bit of alcohol in his system helped out a little too). "Her name was Christina, but everyone called her Chris. She was Rude's sister… and my ex-wife."

As Reno paused to retain his composure, Tifa could do nothing but stare wide-eyed, mouth agape, at the man in front of her. _Ex-wife!? Reno was Married?! And Rude had a sister?! Oh my god…_

"She started working for Shinra about six-months before hand, around the same time we divorced. She knew I didn't want her working for Shinra, that probably why she did it." Reno smirked as he spoke of his ex-lover. She was always very sly and vengeful. That's probably why they made such a cute couple. 

"Oh my god, Reno. I am so sorry. I never knew. I –"

"You couldn't have known. And don't be sorry. She doesn't want you to be."

"What? She doesn't" Tifa was quite confused. Reno never seemed like the type to "feel" what their loved ones wanted, especially after they passed. He was too much of a realist to say something like that.

"She doesn't. Or at least that what she told me…" Reno wouldn't dare share the words with Tifa. He held Chris's last words so tight to his heart, no one would ever hear him speak them, save maybe Rude. _ Reno, don't hold it against them…_

"Reno, what -- ?" A quickly raised hand silenced Tifa. Reno suddenly regretted telling Tifa what he did. He felt he could trust her not to blab to anyone, but he should've realized she would want to pry. Reno didn't life prying.

After a few more minutes of uncomfortable silence, Reno spoke again. "I'm going for a walk."

Tifa didn't dare protest. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened. Everything went by so fast. Another stupid argument suddenly twisted into one of the deepest moments she's shared with anyone in a long time. She couldn't figure out why it happened, but decided not to think to much about it.

For now, she's just watch Reno walk away…

A/N: Phew. This was frigging long. And guess what, it's not done! Once again, I have made this interlude way too long and I am in the midst of chopping it up into two. I should probably stop making these so long, eh? Read on, my friends, and please review.


	12. Interlude: A Few Peaceful Moments

Disclaimer: I refuse to claim ownership of all this FFVII bull-hookey

A/N: I really need to start making these interludes shorter…

****

Interlude: A Few Peaceful Moments

Vincent's skillful combination of fingers and talons worked their magic (his human parts making sure never to make contact with Yuffie). As he worked, Yuffie couldn't help but be taken aback at how adept he was. 

He must've had to whip up a lot of bandages when he was a Turk... Hmmm, Vincent the Turk. He even kinda looks like Reno, a little. Skinny and tall, but Reno's no where near as tall as Vinnie. Plus Vinnie's more built.. Err, I mean, uhh, I wasn't looking at him like THAT!! EWWW! Err, anyway, he acts more like Rude. I wonder if the Turks sucked so bad back then too? Probably not, Vinnie's a hell of a lot more deadly than Reno or Laney. Maybe not Rude. Baldy scares me.

Suddenly, Yuffie paused her inner monolog to wince as the sharp coldness of a metal digit that suddenly struck her leg.

Wow, that was cold. But it was the first time so far it hit me. The first time he's even touched me. Man, he must be damn good with that thing to keep it under control like that. He's probably make a decent ninja. Still couldn't beat me, though... What an odd left hand. I wonder why Hojo took his left hand. Was Vinnie left handed? It must've been a bitch to learn how to use that thing. I wonder if it feels pain...

Yuffie was so lost in her thoughts that she had barely noticed that Vincent had stopped. "The wound will be more painful than it looks. It bruised the bone. That should numb the pain until the potion starts to work"

Though she wasn't sure how long ago he had finished, Yuffie assumed it was at least a few minutes ago. Vincent wouldn't speak unless she had been sitting there blank-faced for an awkward amount of time.

"Hey Vinnie. Did you used to be left handed?"

The out-of-the-blue comment caught Vincent off guard. His usual hesitation due to a reluctance to speak was replaced by one due to lack of preparation. Maybe he had underestimated the perceptiveness of this girl. "Yes."

"Geez, if you're left handed, just imagine if you found a gun that you could use with your claw..." Yuffie was shocked at her own words. _Oh my Gawd, did I just call it a claw? Shit!_ Yuffie's mind raced. She had to say something else. She must've pissed him off, She could feel Vincent's eyes on her - she didn't want to die tonight - she didn't want to die at _his_ hands. "Sorry, Vinnie. It's just I never picked up on it before, that's all."

"No one else has either." In two years, not even their fearless leader, Cloud Strife, could pick up on the fact that Vincent was actually left-handed.

"Really?!" Yuffie didn't bother to keep her voice in check. She was on an excitement high. She never knew anything before the rest of the group. But then, she reasoned her way down from her pedestal. _He was probably just saying that to make me feel good. Bastard! He's too damn polite!_

When it seemed like Vincent wasn't planning on answer her, Yuffie hopped to her feet. A feeling of peaceful numbness where pain once resided greeted her. She liked it.

"Thanks, Vin." She reached up to pat Vincent thankfully on his arm, but the man quickly jerked away. "You're so silly, Vinnie."

She had always found Vincent's rejection of human contact quite ironic and humorous. A guy who was once so deeply in love now couldn't stand to be touched. She couldn't help but picture a young, Turked-out Vincent, blue suit and all, hiding behind a bush and telling Lucrecia that he loved her, but running away like a little schoolboy when she tried to kiss him.

Yuffie stifled a giggle as she remembered the only time she had managed to touch Vincent Valentine. A year ago, as AVALANCHE reflected on their victory by a campfire just outside of Kalm, Yuffie had snuck in a hug. Vincent stood in the background, away from the light of the fire, trying to spend the night unnoticed. Unfortunately for him, everyone, including Yuffie, managed to get a moment or two with their quiet friend.

He had let Yuffie hug him. Tifa flung an arum around his shoulders, too. All the boys got their hand shakes in with him. And all did so without receiving too much resistance from Vincent. Was he actually happy that night? _No. He looked more depressed than I've ever seen him..._

As she reached her door, Yuffie turned to gaze at her eternally sad friend, only to be surprised by a completely different sight than she had expected. She assumed she'd see Vincent sulking back into his deathly dark corner. She didn't expect to see him sitting atop a barstool staring at a lovely figure entering the bar. _When did Tifa go out?_

Vincent's gaze locked on the side door of the bar when he heard a rustling outside. He had watched Tifa go out earlier, but did not desire to confront her. He recognized the voice outside with her to be Reno's. He didn't know what they were arguing about, but he didn't really care. It was their business, not his.

As he saw Tifa quietly step through the door, a bit of fear crept up into Vincent's chest. He was afraid Tifa was about to _make_ it his business. During their travels, Tifa had made it a habit to come to Vincent with her problems. He never really spoke to anyone, so she was sure he wouldn't tell anyone her secrets. He was also a good listener, even Lucrecia would admit to that.

He sat silently upon a barstool as he watched her approach. His eyes fell on her long auburn hair bouncing behind her as he wished she wouldn't notice him. He might've retreated to an unlit corner in which he could hide, but he figured it would be too obvious. She was far too perceptive to think she was just seeing things.

Tifa long legs lifted as she hoisted herself onto a barstool right next to Vincent. It was a little too close for him, but he made no retreating movement. She looked hurt. It wasn't the first time Vincent had seen that hurt in her eyes. The look told him he better not leave her like this, unless he wanted to get a good view of some waterworks.

"Still up, Vince?"

Vincent remained silent. He wasn't in the mood to speak after his confrontation with Yuffie. Then again, he was never in the mood to speak. "Stupid question, huh? I mean, there's no bed down here. Makes it difficult to sleep."

Vincent looked thoughtfully at Tifa. Her eyes were locked on the mirror behind the bar. Her eyes were glued to her own image reflecting back at her, but Vincent didn't believe that that's what she was really looking at.

"But I guess that never really stopped you before. Remember that morning I almost stepped right on top of you outside the Icicle Inn? There was no bed there either, but that didn't stop you from sleeping out there. Wasn't it cold? I bet it was..."

Vincent knew the tone in Tifa's voice. She was just talking for the sake of talking. She did that a lot at nights, not only to him, but to anyone around. He had heard her and Yuffie babble on for hours with no real information getting exchanged. 

Sometimes human actions like these confused Vincent. _Have I become so much of a monster that I no longer understand humanity?_ Vincent quickly quieted teh doubting part of his mind. He had more immediate matters to attend to: Tifa.

"Tifa." Vincent's previously silent voice cut through the air straight into Tifa's mind. "Who are you talking to?"

"What?" Tifa's voice was full of confusion. She was talking to him, wasn't she? Vincent's eyes locked on to hers and told her the hidden meaning of his question. "Oh, I guess I was babbling to myself a bit there, wasn't I?"

A question popped into Tifa's head, begging to be asked. She hesitated for a few moments, not wanting to upset Vincent, but she had to ask. She was too nosy not to. Plus, she was sure it would take her mind off of the scene outside she had just lived through. "Vince, why haven't you been sleeping?"

She knew that answer already: he was worried about Lucrecia. The real answer she was looking for was to why he was so worried. In the time they spent together traveling the world, Tifa thought she had Vincent pegged. He was a quiet but powerful man who thought he was a monster. 

She always thought he traveled the world looking to atone for his sin, not to find his former love. She was sure he was over Lucrecia. He was so depressed because he had sinned and his life had been taken from him, not because he missed Lucrecia, right?

"When someone is constantly plagued by nightmares, sleep isn't a good idea. Especially not when someone sleeps with fear. Fear brings on more potent images."

Fear? Had Vincent just admitted to being afraid of something? This was quite the proverbial curve-ball. "Vincent, why are you afraid?"

A long silence followed. A person's fears weren't easy to talk about, especially not when that person rarely spoke at all. "Tifa, why are you afraid?"

Tifa's mind searched for the best answer. There were so many things she could tell him. It was very rare in conversations like these that Vincent asked a question that he didn't already know the answer to. So which answer was he looking for now. Suddenly, the realization came.

"I'm afraid that we all will have to relive everything all over again." Vincent did not reply, but Tifa didn't expect him too. Vincent seemed so much more depressed after their defeat of Sephiroth. He also seemed very edgy, as if he was sure either Sephiroth or Hojo, or maybe even Jenova, would be waiting for him around the next corner.

Tifa rose to return to her bed. She knew she was making Vincent uncomfortable. She wouldn't prolong his displeasure any longer. "Good night, Vincent. And don't worry. We'll find Lucrecia."

Reno stumbled his way back from his nice little nook in a near-by alley way. Drunks drank for many reasons, and Reno knew them all. Sometimes he did it to forget, other times to celebrate, and sometimes to drown the pain, but not tonight. Tonight he had a specific task for the tonic in his hand - to make him pass out.

Reno knew his own body well. He knew he never dreamed when he was passed out. What way of avoiding dreams could be more fun? Tripping over objects that weren't there, Reno finally made around to the back of the Tranquility, just below his window.

Yuffie barely avoided being caught. She thought she saw Tifa glancing up at her a few times. She _knew _Vincent knew she was there, because he always knew that sort of stuff. But, for the sake of her pride, she quickly ducked into her room as if no one knew of her spy-like operations.

Waiting for Yuffie in her room was her most hated and feared enemy, boredom. After her run-in with the floor, Yuffie was roused to full wakefulness. Fully awake and in need of something to do. Yuffie's eyes scanned the room for something to capture her interest.

Yuffie slowly strolled over to the window and opened it. Staring out into the cool breeze of the night - so increbibly cheesy, but it was the best she could come up with. Luckily for her, entertainment was about to waltz into her line of vision.

Reno had begun his laborous ascent. Hand over wobbly hand, he climbed up the back of the building using anything he could get a hold on. Yuffie silently looked on, amused. Reno continued on, oblivious to his observer.

It wasn't until Reno had reached the point between her window and the Turks' that Yuffie made her presence known.

"Just waddaya think _you're_ doing trying to climb into _my_ window?! You Turks really are naughty!" Yuffie's playful accusation was followed by a slap on the hand with the same nature. Fortunately for Reno, he was too drunk to feel it, otherwise he might've lost his grip.

"... I'n trigna ta fin um pliss teepee..." [1] He was obviously more drunk than Yuffie had thought. He might need some help.

Yuffie questioned the drunkard as she reached an arm down to help him in through the window. "What about a teepee?" 

After getting to his feet (after falling with his face to the floor - he was heavier than he looked), Reno searched the room with confusion streaked across his face. "Whada mu huts?" [2]

"Ummm, riiight... I just thought it might be easier to _walk_ to your room. You know, through the hallway, instead of climbing up a wall?"

Reno attempted no slurred response, but headed towards the door. He still wasn't sure who this troll was, or why it wanted to help him, but something in him told him to trust this strange, small creature. But, what was more confusing to him was the color of the trolls hair. Weren't trolls supposed to have brightly colored hair? This little one only had plain black, and it was pretty short too. Maybe it's an undercover troll...

As he opened the door, Reno turned back to his helpful troll and gave it a good whack on the backside. Trolls like that kind of thing, right?

Yuffie stifled a screech as her rear was defiled by the drunken Reno's hand. _OH MY GAWD!!!!!_ As Reno stumbled away, Yuffie convinced herself that he was just drunk. Although, it would be nice. _He is awfully cute, in a sick twisted I'm-A-Mean-Bastard sort of way..._

She couldn't wait to tell Tifa...

[1]"... I'n trigna ta fin um pliss teepee..." = I'm trying to find a place to pee.

[2]"Whada mu huts?" = Where's my house?

A/N: Finally done!! YESSSS!!! I even skipped my Crime in America class today to finish this shizot off. Such a weight has been lifted. I hope I still remember what I had in store for the next chapter. Apologies for the wait and if some of this is kind of awkward, it's taken me so long to write, there's a very slim chance that I'm gonna have the patience to edit it. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE Review. Pretty please? It makes me happy!


	13. Parting Ways

Disclaimer: Square owns it all.

A/N: Sorry for the extensive delay on this chapter. Hopefully now I'll stay up to date with myself and keep the chapters coming. Much love to my reviewers. The last two chapters pulled in a whopping five reviews. That's the most I've had from one upload so far. You guys rock. Anywho, be prepared for some surprises (or at least I hope they're surprises) in this chapter and possible the following. Time for some new characters!

****

Chapter 9: Parting Ways

Vincent stood out against the horizon; a dark figure disrupting a bright morning sky. The mid-morning rain drizzled down his ebony mane in all directions. Ever since Holy unleashed its fury on Meteor, the weather has been off, especially near Midgar and Kalm, the two towns closest to the catastrophic showdown. 

Now, the Midgar plain and its inhabitant towns (i.e. Kalm), have gained the reputation for having very sporadic and highly unpredictable rains. Kalm, the farther north of the two, also saw it's far share of snow from time to time. That was a bit more predictable. It would still be a month or so before the winter season would set in. Maybe Reeve would be back in time for Christmas. 

But thought's of Reeve and Christmas trees didn't dare come near Vincent. He wasn't out here to ponder about the strange weather patterns either. Thirty-one years ago, he would've been unendingly interested in such a strange occurrence. Back then, Lucrecia had sparked a great interest in him for the natural sciences, but that was a long time ago.

Something was out there. It may have been the somewhat noisy breakfast ritual talking place inside that caused him to come out onto the flat, grassy fields surrounding Kalm, but it was that something that kept him here. He could smell it in the air. Vincent gave Chaos' inert animal instincts credit for his strong sense of smell. 

Vincent's nostrils committed every aspect of the aroma to his memory. He didn't know what the faint, almost Sulfuric, smell in the air was, but he would make damn sure that he'd recognize it the moment he smelled it again.

After the scent had been sufficiently stored away in Vincent's mind, he turned and head back towards the two gates. After being so impatient with them just one day before, he couldn't rightfully leave AVALANCHE waiting for him.

All nine inhabitants of Tifa's Tranquillity sat silently as they vigorously attacked the food in front of them. Well, all except Yuffie, who didn't mind talking with her mouth full.

"Awww, c'mon Cid… Can't we just take the Highwind?" A few scrambled egg particles took flight, propelled by Yuffie's pleading voice.

Cid couldn't help but admire the young girl. She must've had a lot of practice talking with food in her mouth; she did it almost as well as he did. He would've gladly shown her how it should be done, but decided to finish what was in his mouth before he spoke. Tifa's food was too good to not enjoy to it's fullest.

"We can't take the Highwind cuz there ain't no place to land the old bird!"

"But it's raining! My clothes are gonna get all wet. And we're gonna have to walk around in all that mud. Gross-ness!"

"We're walkin' and that's final! Now quite yer yappin' an' eat."

Yuffie sat back in her chair and flung her arms into a tight fold: the international sign of immature displeasure. She certainly "quit her yapping", as Cid would put it, but would not continue eating - another silent protest. 

Anyone could tell by the look on her face that this argument wasn't over yet. She was just biding her time, waiting for the perfect moment to burst. Her cue came in the form of a man being closely followed by a flowing red cape.

"Vinnie! Cid wants to make us _walk_ to Midgar!"

Cid vehemently threw his fork down to the table. "That's it! Ours asses are fuckin' walkin' so just shut up about it!"

"Why can't we -"

"Don't even ask why we ain't takin' tha Highwind! I just told ya!"

"DON'T CUT ME OFF!! I was TRYING to ask why we're not talking the buggy?"  


"Cloud and 'em need the buggy."

"Why can't they take the Highwind?"

"WHAT!?!? Because _I_ ain't gonna be wit 'em! THAT'S why!"

"GAWD! You're such a baby, Cid!"

"… Take a Chocobo…" Vincent's cold, emotionless words cut in between the two, bringing their argument to a halt. Despite the calmness in his voice, his words screamed reason at the top of their lungs.

Tifa let out a quiet giggle at Yuffie and Cid's reaction. The two sat in a strange silence while they registered what had just happened to them. With three simple words, the quiet ex-Turk had made complete fools of them.

When a reddening of embarrassment hit Yuffie's cheeks, everyone in the room (besides herself, Cid, and Vincent) burst into complete laughter.

Cid was the first to come to his own defense. "Hey, pipe down! I woulda said that, but I wanted ta make the pest suffer some!"

After the Turks and Cid's group left the Tranquility, Cloud took the lead. "All right, everyone. Here's what's going down today…"

Since everyone had woken up that morning, they had been asking him to let them in on his plans for the day. Now was their opportunity to listen in.

"Ok, everyone equip yourselves for the worst. We're headed for Junon and we have no idea what we'll find there. From what Vincent suspects, the guys he took care of in Midgar were just babies compared to the real thing. I don't know what info he's got to go on, but I can never remember anytime he's been wrong. Can any of you?"

"I can't 'member any time he spoke..." Berret's low voice was muffled, but not muffled enough to keep everyone from hearing him.

Tifa quickly jumped to defend Vincent. "Hey! Just because he's not here doesn't mean you can talk like that about him. He's our friend - friends don't say anything behind each other's backs that they wouldn't say to their faces. Would you say that?"

Barret sat silent in the face of these accusations. Red took the opportunity to answer for him. "I have a feeling Barret might be a bit wiser than to comment like that to Vincent."

Despite Red's seemingly supportive words, different thoughts came to his mind. he assumed everyone else was thinking the same. _Why is she so defensive of Vincent?_

Mr. Strife really wasn't interested on thinking too much about Tifa's motives. There was business to attend to. "Anyway, so we've got those guys to deal with. Plus, there's still a lot of angry ex-Shinra SOLDIERS living in Upper Junon. They won't be happy to see us. And, to top it all off, we're there looking for Reeve and his kidnapper. From the looks of that guy on the tape, and the looks of the trail of blood Reeve left, he won't be any push over. You three are the best assets I have right now, that's why you're coming with me."

Cloud didn't mean to lessen the worth of the other three, and everyone knew it. It wasn't too hard to guess why Cloud had picked Cid, Yuffie and Vincent to go to on there own - some for the purpose of going to Midgar, some for the purpose of staying away from Junon.

All four remaining members of AVALANCHE, Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Red, were quite apprehensive while strapping on their equipment and selecting some handy materia. All of them had watched the video. They had all seen the dreadful 7 foot blade trailing behind the kidnapper. 

Only one man had been able to wield the Masamune before - Sephiroth. That only meant that this man was about as powerful as the madman - more powerful than any of them. Although no one would ever believe it was possible, everyone also feared that this new foe would be even stronger than the former General.

After the last materia slot was filled, Cloud and crew filed into the buggy. The drive would be a long one and they certainly didn't want their adversaries to have the darkness of the night on their side. The trip was a silent one, everyone caught up in their own fears.

Cloud worried about those under his leadership. It had been a long time since he led so many people into battle. He had become too used to the life led by the co-owner of the Tranquility. The life of AVALANCHE leader, ex-SOLDIER Cloud Strife seemed so foreign to him now. He couldn't live with himself if he lead these innocent people into a death trap simply because he was a bit rusty.

Barret feared the rise of another Sephiroth. Now he only lived for two things: Marlene and Corel. If another madman even more powerful than Sephiroth came around, he didn't know if they could stop him. They all barely made it out alive the first time. If they couldn't stop him, what would become of his hometown, the town he helped rebuild with his bare hands? What about Marlene, the little girl he adopted as his daughter in order to help out an old, lost friend?

Red worried about the missing items from Hojo's lab. At one time, he was one of the crazed professors specimines. He did not wish that fate on anyone - though with that kind of equipment stolen it looked like that fate was coming anyway.

Tifa worried, oddly enough, about Vincent. She knew far too well why Cloud had sent him to Midgar: Lucrecia. His heart still held a weakness for the elderly woman. Tifa saw first hand what Vincent's condition was after he found her missing. His clothes were torn, dry blood covered every inch of visible skin, and his hair was a complete mess. She could only speculate what kind of destructive behavior lead to that. 

She hoped he's be all right. She hoped the same for Yuffie and Cid. If they are with him when he snaps, that would be the end of them....

Junon was quite the sight for sore eyes. Whoever this new mayor was certainly cleaned things up in the past year. The streets were clean, there were no electrical wires running along the beach, no more high voltage pole in the middle of the city. Cloud made a mental note to shake his hand when this was all said and done.

The eastern continent's sole port city had quickly become one of the cleanest city's Cloud had ever seen. The streets were dirty free now and the beach was once again a beautiful scene. In the rain, the ocean seemed more beautiful than ever before. Turbulent waves dancing gingerly upon the shore. He was sure Reeve would love to take a good long look at this. He's make sure the Neo-Shinra President would get his chance.

But any thought that this might be a small, quiet, homely town was put to death at the slightest upward glance. That monstrous city built above them was still there. That was Cloud's target.

"Alright, here's where we split. Barret, you and I and heading up there." The groups eyes followed Cloud's finger, directed towards Upper Junon. " We're searching every inch of every alley for any clue. Tifa and Red, meet us in an hour at the old Turk bar. Until then, ask around down here. Junon is a tight city. It's not very probably that Reeve has been kept here for days without anyone noticing anything amiss."

Three chocobos stood strapped to a near by pole just outside the Sector 5 gate. Three humans stood silent staring into the darkness of the unlit Shinra Building. They had wasted no time making their way to their destination - none wished to be there. Yuffie found it to be very creepy and gross. Cid and Vincent both thought their abilities would be better suited with Cloud and the others.

Luckily for Vincent, his two companions had been arguing so much over the wind blowing in their faces caused by their speeding chocobos that their mouths were too dry to argue any further. He would enjoy this peaceful time, but he knew it would be short lived. If everything went to plan, the ever popular Cait Sith would be joining them soon.

"Do you hear that?" Elena's voice was filled with worry. The same worry filled the hearts and minds of both Reno and Rude.

Reno had heard the noise Elena was referring to, but ignored it. He willed his ears to be wrong. He also had a fairly good idea what the noise was. He willed his mental analysis to be wrong as well.

After all, it was raining. Maybe that was the sound that had been setting his mental alarm off. But Laney was more logical than he was. He knew she wouldn't say anything about some rain drops.

"If you tell me you hear marching, I'm gonna kill you..."

A/N: Ok, I know this chapter sucked. Way too short and not enough story in it. Well, I feel another wave of obligations (i.e. no time for writing) coming along that'll tie me up for a few weeks, so I figured I'd get this up before all that happens. Feel free to actually NOT review: save it for the next chapter (which is really just the rest of this chapter that I didn't get around to writing.


	14. Captured

Disclaimer: FFVII = Square. Duh.

A/N: Apologies for the last, very lame, chapter. I PROMISE this one won't suck as bad.

****

Chapter 10: Captured

Cloud and Barret sat grumpily in the back of the still somewhat popular bar. The former Shinra hang out spot was now open to the public, just as Cloud had anticipated. Unfortunately, nothing had turned up in the past hour. Granted, he didn't really expect to find him in just an hour of searching one of the largest city's in the world, but that didn't mean it still didn't piss him off.

The bar was moderately full. Luckily for them, the only person to notice them was the bartender. Their faces had become somewhat famous over the past year and most could recognize them instantly. But, Cloud and Barret arrived here before any of them did. When each inhabitant entered, they didn't even bother to look in their direction.

Cloud's eyes wandered about the room. A few ex-SOLDIERS still too attached to Shinra to take off their suits were standing near the door talking together, completely ignoring everyone else. A man wearing something strikingly similar to the stereotypical chocobo jockey's uniform sat by himself, sipping a beer at the bar. His face seemed familiar to Cloud, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

He shook the thought out of his mind and continued down the bar, down to the man who he'd been watching this whole time. He estimated that the man stood around six feet. His hair was short, black, and spiked. He wore a perfectly crease black suit with a white shirt and a silver tie. He hid his eyes behind pitch black sunglasses. There was something very suspicious about him.

The front door of the bar flung open, snapping Cloud out of his analysis. Tifa and red leisurely strolled through. From Tifa's almost pleasant gait, Cloud could infer that they had not found any bad news yet. Unfortunately, in this situation bad news was still better than no news.

Everyone else in the bar turned eyes of curiosity at the two, most likely do to the large canine with tattoos and a tail of fire. Everyone's eyes quickly returned to what they were doing previously, expect for one pair. The jockey's eyes remain fixed on the two, but instead of curiosity, discomfort and worry filled his eyes.

The black clad man quickly paid for his drink and collected his over-sized, flamboyant hat from the bar. Without blinking an eye, he was headed for the door. He quickly brushed past Tifa and, from the sound of the footsteps, began sprinting down the street.

Tifa, unlike Cloud, didn't have a tough time identifying the man. "What's wrong with Joe?"

_That's it! _Cloud's mind leapt at the sudden realization. It was Joe, the mysterious chocobo rider that could never seem to lose. And that damned hat; Cloud should've at least recognized the hat. Something about Tifa must've startled him. Or maybe he didn't like dogs.

No, that wasn't it. Joe never noticed Cloud or Barret sitting at the bar because he came in after them. But Red and Tifa he could see plain as day. It must've been the fact that they were AVALANCHE members. This was too suspicious to pass up.

As he jumped up from his seat, his loud voice quickly made his presence known to the rest of the bar. "After him!"

"Geee THANKS guys! It was so boring sitting in this dusty storage closet for a whole year." Cid didn't have much trouble getting Cait up and running again. A toy cat was nothing compared to the Highwind.

"Shut up ya stupid cat! We ain't supposed ta be in here. Yer gonna get us caught!"

Yuffie quickly leaned over to whisper in Cid's ear. "But this place is closed down. There's no one in here to catch us."

Cid didn't bother to lower his voice. He figured Cait was too stupid to figure out what he meant anyway. "But he doesn't know that."

The cat tilted his head in confusion. "Who doesn't know what?" 

Ignoring Cait's question, Vincent spoke up. "We should leave." Something was wrong outside. Another benefit of Hojo's experimentation: heightened hearing.

"Who doesn't know what?"

Yuffie hopped up and poked Vincent teasingly ( a poke he quickly retracted from). "Awww, is poor little Vinnie scared?"

"Is anyone going to tell me who doesn't know what?"

Vincent only took a quick moment to give Yuffie an icy glare before heading for the door. He didn't need to explain anything to any of them, they'd soon find out for themselves.

The cat part of Cait Sith's body popped it's head in front of Yuffie's. "C'mon, Yuff-ster. You know not to poke fun at Vincent... Now, who doesn't know what?"

All three Turks ran frantically, dodging whatever bullets decided to come their way. Reno desperately reached into the depths of his mind for something familiar. Every good Turk knew that knowledge of the battle field was a great help in evening out the odds. Every excellent Turk knew the layout of Midgar like that back of his hand.

This rubble was so strange to him. If this had happened a little more than a year ago, their assailants would be dead already. But not in this strange rubble. He had to get them to some place he knew better.

Despite his lack of knowledge of the intricacies of the city, post-Meteor, he still knew where he generally was: close to his saving point. The old Shinra Building, no matter how decimated, was familiar turf to any Turk, even Elena.

Well before they reached the street in front of Shinra Headquarters, Cid, Yuffie and Cait Sith knew what Vincent was so worried about. His advanced sense of hearing had managed to pick up on the sound of gunshots from 60 some-odd floors up.

"Who the fuck could that be?" Cid's question went unanswered as the rest of the groups began darting for the door. He soon followed suit.

Reno and company were never happier to see a few members of AVALANCHE. Whatever the hell these things were certainly knew how to use a semi-automatic. They weren't all that bad at dodging bullets either. But none of that phased Reno. He and Rude had disposed of their fair share of gun-savvy "terrorists" in their day.

What was so surprising was their relentlessness. With 27 shots that hit dead on (Reno always counted his bullets, along with Rude and Elena's; it was a a sort of nervous tick), only 5 assailants lay dead. Watching one in particular get up from a point-blank shot to the back even left Rude with his mouth agape.

Vincent, with his inhuman speed, had a large lead on the rest of the group. He was there waiting for them when they emerged. "Back! And get down!"

He signaled to a pillar with a barely large enough base to protect the three. In the sudden rush and the confusion that came along with it, none thought to protest. 

Yuffie's fear added to the loud gunshots going off all around her made it impossible for her to hear Vincent yelling at her. She hadn't noticed that half of her body was still hanging out into the open, but Vincent did. He didn't have time to make her hear him, the Turks needed his help. Taking matters into his own hands, he swiftly scooped up Yuffie and pressed her protectively against his chest as he ran with her towards the next plausible covering: a pile of debris. 

Yuffie suddenly felt her fear drain. She couldn't tell you were she was if you asked, but she liked it. It was warm and bright. It was comfortable, like her mother's arms. _Mama, are you there?_ She had passed out.

Vincent's crimson eyes locked on to one of the members of this army attacking the Turks and examined. Male. Human, or at least was human at one time. Grey-ish green skin. Army fatigues. Shinra issue automatic rifle. Bright green eyes. Too similar to the boys he had taken care of the day prior. He could only assume this is what one of those boys would've looked like if he lived long enough to let the effects of whatever had been done to him kick in.

"Valentine!" Reno was calling his name and making a very strange gesture with his hand. It was a Turk signal. Apparently, this group hadn't noticed Vincent yet, and Reno wanted him to try and circle around the perimeter and hit them in the back. Easy enough.

Elena's heart pounded. In reality, she was still a fairly new Turk. Reno and Rude had been doing their jobs for over half a decade now, Elena was just finishing up her second year. She had never experienced a gunfight of this magnitude before, and it was a little unnerving. What was more unnerving was what she had just found on the ground - a trail of blood leading straight to Rude.

Blood tickled the side of Rude's torso as he fired a round into one of these mutated soldier's chest. A sharp pain shot through his arm with every pull of the trigger; his right shoulder had been hit on their way here. _That shit had better kill him..._

Reno glanced over to his partners. Rude had a little scratch, not something foreign to the silent Turk. The only harm done to Elena was mental; she'd get over it. With his mind at ease, he began returning fire on the group of three that had been mercilessly tearing apart his temporary shelter.

His clip emptied quickly. Bullet One: Center soldier's right arm. Bullet Two: Center soldier's chest. Bullet Three: Air. Bullet Four: Left soldier's neck. Bullet Five: Air. Bullet Six: Left soldier's forehead. Bullet Seven: Right soldier's right thigh. Bullet Eight: Right soldier's stomach. Bullet Nine: Air. Bullet Ten: Center soldier's left thigh.

__

Seven out of ten, not bad... So now, he had: One dead left soldier. One center soldier with a damaged firing arm, a major limp, and a hard time breathing. One right soldier with a hole in it's stomach and a sudden need to lean on something for support. Three more soldier's come to back up their pals.

So now, he had five guns firing at him instead of three. The three newest of those five were now moving forward. This was getting to close for comfort. Whenever Reno was uncomfortable in battle, he'd make sure his Electro-Mag rod would make everyone else feel a little discomfort.

Fully extended and set to kill, Reno jumped into action. As he nimbly dodge the constant hail of bullets, Reno hoped that these things knew what fear was. Once within a few feet's reach (and luckily with only a few tears in his jacket to show for it), Reno put his plan in motion.

A surprised soldier that happened to be standing too close to Reno learned what electricity tasted like. Pulling the convulsing body back with him, Reno began his retreat. No, these things weren't scared by the pain of electrocution, but they certainly were stupid enough to riddle their ally's body with bullet holes. _Dumbasses..._

A few more bullets were exchanged before Reno began to feel a bit helpless. This wasn't some videogame: ammunition ran out in real life. Well, that is, unless you're some psycho grey skinned soldier with ten thousand friends. 

He needed to find a way out of here. Reno usually thought that a cornered rat was a dangerous thing, but this cornered rat was tired and running low on ammo. Nothing looked promising. He'd have to run from covering to covering, hoping he won't die along the way. So, he ran. He wasn't lucky enough to make it to the near-by pillar without taking a bullet in the leg to show for it.

Things were looking bleak. That was, until three unnaturally quiet gunshots were faintly heard over the massive symphony of destruction. Reno's new hiding spot had put him close enough to get cover fire from Vincent's perch atop a large pile of rubble.

The three shots, like almost all of Vincent's shots, were head shots. He took out the three freshest attackers, the ones advancing on Reno. He assumed the young Turk could finish off the damaged ones.

Vincent's eyes began to survey the battlefield. Three soldiers lay dead in a row as a result of the Sniper ST resting in Vincent's human hand. Two, badly injured, were dong their best to flush Reno out of his hiding spot. One lays dead next to those two from Reno's Desert Eagle. Two more are dead a few feet behind them, also as a result of Reno. Rude has already laid to waste three and was battling his fourth. Elena has one kill on her score board and one still alive firing on her. 

That's fourteen. Didn't he count fifteen the first time through? He's eyes quickly scanned the ground bellow him again. Still only fourteen. Where the hell could number fifteen be? A sharp, high pitched scream from behind quickly answered his question.

He turned just in time to see one of the grey skinned demons carrying Yuffie over it's back. Vincent instantaneously sprung into action. He had no trouble staying on the thing's tail, but it was the first time Vincent hadn't been able to catch up to something he was chasing. These things had incredible speed. 

Before he knew it, he was in a sewer. "Vincent!" It was the first time Yuffie had noticed Vincent was after her. "Vincent! Help!"

Her help came in the form of two bullets from the Quicksilver: one to the back of each of the soldier's knees. It quickly fell, dropping Yuffie to it's side, but it was far from dead. Not wishing to have Yuffie caught in the cross fire, Vincent ended things quickly with a bullet to the head. That was the only thing that seemed to kill these things.

An excessively large fist crashed into the wall next to his head. Two voices filled his ears. One belonged to the owner of the fist, yelling obscenities at him, demanding he talk. The other came from a younger boy, pleading kindly, yet sternly, that he tell them something.

How had he gotten himself into this? Why the hell did he need a beer so bad? Why the hell did he need to get it at _that_ bar? Joe didn't even make eye contact with his questioners. If they wanted to get anything out of him, they'd have to do a lot better than this.

"Barret! Calm down." Cloud hoped he could get through to his large friend. Joe had put up a rather dirty fight to try and get away from them. His below the belt shot to Barret made the AVALANCHE founder angry, to say the least.

Tifa's soothing voice soon followed, sealing off Barret's rage temporarily. "Yeah, we'll never get through to him like this."

A moment of silence passed as all eyes shifted to Joe, back pressed against a solid wall of a Junon alley way. Cloud soon began his interrogation again. "Joe, who do you work for? I'm willing to cut you a deal if you let us know what we want. I don't think you have any idea what you're getting yourself into by working for whoever this is..."

Joe's mind began to wander, no longer listening to whatever was spilling out of Cloud's mouth. This little punk could never even beat him in a Chocobo Race, and suddenly he was Mr. Bigshot? How was this kid even sure Joe was working for _anyone_? For all they know, they could be harassing some poor old man while the real conspirator was scott-free by now.

"If I tell you something, will you shut up for a bit?" Joe's forehead creased as he glared at the blond standing before him.

"Fine."

_Wow, that was easy. This kid must really have no clue what he's doing._ "The guy you're looking for is gone. Left Junon a couple of days ago." Joe's face contorted into a twisted grin as he recalled what his leader had left behind. "Left your pals down in Midgar a gift when he left..."

"Shut yo ass up, foo'!" Yes, Barret did realize that he had just told the man they had been trying to get to speak for hours to shut up, but no one bad mouth's Midgar. He had helped Reeve too much to let anyone disrespect such hard work.

After a few moments of deliberation it was decided. Joe was coming back to Kalm with them. There was no way to tell if he was telling the truth, but that didn't matter. If the kidnapper wasn't in Junon, than there was no reason to stay. If he was in Junon, than it wouldn't be safe to stay. And Joe obviously knew more than he was saying, so it was a given that he'd be tagging along.

The Turks weren't exactly surprised to find out that not all of the ten fallen enemies were actually dead. Now nine stood, guns in hand, firing at anything in a blue suit. Damn those Turk uniforms! Rude had began to slow from the blood loss. Reno could barely feel his leg. Elena had broken a heel. Things were not looking good.

Automatic fire had been answered by single shots from various pistols for so long now, that when the new sounds of fully automatics entered the fray, the Turks had to pause to see what was going on.

Reno was first to grasp the answer. "What the fuck took you so long?"

The two friendly faces, one male and one female, simply smiled and opened the floodgates on the soldiers left...

A/N: Gasp? Who are these two mysterious gun-slingers? I hinted to it a few chapters back, let's see who can remember. Anywho. Sorry for the rather lame action sequences. That stuff takes concentration for me, and at 4:45 in the morning, I don't have much of ANYTHING, let alone concentration. Hope you guys enjoyed. Hope this made up for the last shitty shitty chapter. Please please PLEASE review!


	15. Familiar Faces

Disclaimer: Square still owns everything. Except my pants.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, Reno and Mewie9. You'll find out who they are soon enough. Onwards!

**Chapter 11: Familiar Faces**

            "I'M SO DAMN BORED I WOULD READ A BOOK!!"

            A few playing cards hit the floor. A few mouths cut off whatever words were coming out of them. A young woman lets out a quiet, startled screech. This was just the reaction Yuffie was hoping for with her unexpected outburst. She was momentarily entertained.

            "Is she always like that?" The young, male stranger with dark brown hair questioned Elena. The female Turk's answer was a simple nod.

            Yuffie had been watching that young man, along with his female companion, jealously for the past half hour. She had tried to butt her way into the conversation they were having with Reno and Elena, but was brutally ignored. These four certainly seemed to get along cozily. _I wonder how long they've known each other?_

            From what she gathered from eavesdropping on the group, Reno and Elena had taken it upon themselves to let the other two know what was going on. Apparently they had worked together before during the reconstruction of Midgar, bad hadn't seen each other since the Reeve thing started up. _I wonder HOW the know each other?_

            She was quite intrigued by both of them physically. They were much more rebellious looking than anyone she had ever seen before. The man's sleeves were torn off. A dirty, red bandana held up his disheveled, dark brown hair. His military green pants were tucked into his combat boots. A knife was tucked into his belt. 

The girl's lighter brown hair managed to stay back on it's own (from grease build-up, Yuffie inferred; it didn't look like she had a shower in a while). Her navy blue tank-top hung un-tucked over her black jeans. The end of the girl's jeans found their way into her boots in the same fashion as the guy's did. Something much flashier hung from the girl's belt. _I wonder what their names are?_

            Deciding that her curiosity wouldn't be answered just yet, she decided to go back to finding something to entertain her. She desperately needed something to occupy her mind. Ever since they returned from Midgar, she hadn't felt well. Her stomache was upset and her head started to hurt slightly.

In her search for a mental pain reliever, she found herself leaning her elbows on the table that Rude, Cid and Cait were playing cards at. "Mind if I join ya?"

            "I do! Get outta here, punk! Yer gonna mess up my game!" Apparently, Rude was just as good at poker as Barret was. Cait wasn't that bad either. Spending most of your robitic life in the world's only amusement park gave you a few skills in games like these. Cid got angry when he was losing. Then again, Cid was always angry. 

            Yuffie spent the next few moments finding entertainment from the light reflecting off of Rude's head. "Can I rub your head?"

            Rude didn't even look up from his hand. "Go away…"

            "Fine!" Just like Cid got irritable when he was losing, Yuffie did the same when she was bored. _Where the hell is everyone else!? _

            Her anger lead Yuffie to stomp off and go sulk in the other side of the room. Her back pressed hard against the wall behind her for support. It was becoming hard to stand. She found herself dangerously close to another, usually sulking, individual. Vincent's human hand was too busy rapidly wielding a pen to notice her.

            He had been working on this poem for some time now. He was never good at writing for other people, especially not to Lucrecia. She was the spitting image of perfection, therefore any gift to her must be the same. This was his thirteenth draft since she had gone missing. Each version was slightly different in some way. So much had changed gradually that what he was writing now was a completely different entity than what he wrote two weeks ago. It would be perfect when he gave it to her. [1]

            "So, you even know how to write with that hand, too?" Yuffie basked in her knowledge of Vincent's hand. She was the only one who knew he was left handed. That meant she knew one of his many secrets (no matter how unimportant the secret was). _No one_ ever let her in on any secrets, so she took great pride in it. She would easily refuse to give up the information to anyone else.

            Vincent stopped what he was doing. He hadn't even notice Yuffie approach him. Was he that involved with his writing, or was she getting stealthier? He had a feeling the latter was true. This usually noisy girl was just full of surprises, wasn't she?

His eyes raised to examine her face. She didn't look like she was expecting a verbal response. Good for her, because she wasn't getting one. He soon turned his head to look off into the distance at nothing in particular.

            Yuffie had gotten Vincent's attention surprisingly quickly. The quiet man was generally unresponsive. But, she was looking that attention just as quickly. _Hurry up and say something!_

            "So, do you know them, Vinnie?" She had wanted to know who they were anyway. Might as well ask the only smart one in the room.

            Though she didn't specify, Vincent assumed she was referring to the two that had assisted the Turks in their fight. "No."

            Yuffie let out a sigh. _Another one word answer.__ Why don't you ever talk, Vinnie? I'm sure you've got plenty of interesting things to say…_

            Vincent easily saw the boredom Yuffie was going through. Her face also had a slight tinge of pain on it. For someone as vibrant as she usually was, this silence must be physically painful. _How many times has she quieted herself at your request, hmm? Indeed, she had favored him with silence on many occasions. It couldn't hurt to speak just a little to the girl, could it?_

            "I've never seen them before, but from the looks of the bodies they left behind, we should be glad they're on our side. At least momentarily."

            _What?? Vinnie's talking?! GOODIE GOODIE!! Yuffie was genuinely shocked at Vincent's words. He spoke! But, what he did next surprised her even more._

            The door had been opened and Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Red came strolling in with their captive behind them (who was secure with a few ropes). Vincent's instantaneous reaction was to pull out the Quicksilver and aim at the bound individual.

            Joe was just as surprised, but not as much as the gun. "Valentine?"

            And, to almost a comedic effect, a chorus arose, everyone calling out the name of their confusion.

            "Vinnie?"

            "Biggs! Jessie!"

            "Joe?"

            "Cloud!"

            "Tifa! Barret!"

            "Who?"

[1] – This whole paragraph is just a shameless plug for A View of a Sleeping Sun version 1, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. The lyrics in the fic are the lines of the poem (final version, when he gets to it) he's writing. The comments he makes to each line are from a letter he'll write to go with the poem.

A/N: There's a nice, short one for you. It basically served its purpose – let everyone know who the two new people were while still keeping you in the dark. I'm so evil like that. Plus it was fun to get inside of Yuffie for a while. That didn't sound right….

Please Review!!!! PLEEEASE!!


	16. What's the Story, Morning Glory?

Disclaimer: Square owns everything, even all the new characters. Fuckers.

A/N: Everyone like the surprise? Thank you SOOO much for the reviews! They make me happy! Anywho, this chapter will basically be a "catching up" chapter. I.e., How good ole Vinnie and Joe know each other, where's Wedge, etc. etc. And sorry for the cheesy ass title, but I felt like rhyming a lil.

**Chapter 12: What's the Story, Morning Glory?**

            "Vincent, put that gun away…"

            "Vince, stop it."

            "Valentine!"

            "Vinnie, please…" 

            Red was all Vincent Valentine could see. The blood boiling beneath his skin tainted his vision even more than normal. Rage was something he knew very well, but not something he had felt in such a long time.

            "Ahh, just let him kill the bastard…"

            "Let 'im kill em? Do yer sorry ass have any fuckin' clue how long it took us ta find em?!"

            "Vincent, I will not let you murder someone in my bar!"

            He couldn't hear a word they were saying. His mind was too filled with rage. His ears could only hear one word. It was screaming at him. He couldn't ignore it. _Lucrecia__!!_

            "Vincent!"

            "Vinnie, I don't feel so good…" The childlike innocence in Yuffie's voice somehow cut through the rage. His death red eyes turned just in time to see her falling to the floor. Instincts took over. If you asked him to describe what happened then, he couldn't tell you. For all he knew, he blacked out. But for the first time in his life, he _acted._

            The heat was too intense. She couldn't stand it. It felt like flames were crawling all over her. But there was no light being given off by any fire. It was all… green.

            _What a strange color to be engulfed in…_

            The cold was too much to bear. She couldn't control her shivering. No limbs would move of her will – they only shook. Her skin raised into goose-bumps .

            _I always thought Death would be more… black. Not green…_

            But it still burned. Oh Laviathan, how every muscle and organ in her body burned with such intense heat. How could she still be shivering so bad? Why wouldn't the heat melt the ice that she could feel growing within her skin? Why couldn't the ice put out the flames charring every nerve ending? Surely either of the extremes would be better than being caught in this limbo.

_            This hurts too much to be death… I'm sure mama didn't feel like this when she died…_

            Soon, her frail body became numb to the hot and cold. Now it was something far more frightening – an overwhelming feeling of unidentifiable discomfort. The fear of the unknown was a great thing. At least before she knew she was hot, and cold. Now, she didn't know what she was feeling.

_            Mama, where are you? Please hold me. Hold me like you used to. Remember when Godo would train me too hard? I'd be so sore, and you'd just hold me, and sing. I loved that…_

            Then, there it was. That warm, cozy feeling. She had been falling – falling into this green abyss. But now, she was safe, in her mother's arms. She wasn't falling anymore – she was being carried. It didn't matter where to, she just enjoyed the feeling…

            When Vincent Valentine came to, no wave of panic came over him. Anyone else would be grasping desperately for anything they could recall, but he was far used to this feeling now. Waking up in a strange place he didn't recognize was a daily event in his life.

            He did not "freak out" as some would call it. On the contrary, he simply took in his surroundings and reasoned out his situation. He was standing, in front of a bed. Yuffie was in it. She wasn't bloody. Good; that meant Chaos had not come out. He must be in her room. He'd figure out how he got there later.

            Coming back into the main room of the bar, Vincent was quickly greeted by Tifa. "Wow, Vince. That certainly was nice of you…"

            In his days as a Turk, Vincent picked up how to listen selectively. From hearing the keys words she was so readily handing out, Vincent gathered that he had caught Yuffie before she struck the ground and carried her back up to her room. Simple enough.

            "I think someone needs to tend to Yuffie."

            "Wait just a second." It was Cloud that approached Vincent next. "Before anyone does anything, I'd like to know just what the hell is going on."

            Apparently, the original members of AVALANCHE had been rejoicing together while Vincent was gone, but no one bothered to explain what was happening. It looked like everyone was counting on Vincent to explain. After all, he was the first to react.

            He searched for the words to justify his actions. Of course, _he knew why he had done it, but it was not something anyone else needed to know. "I will not taint you with my story."_

            "Awww c'mon, Vincent…"

            "Damnit! I KNEW he'd say some shit like dat!"

            "Spill the beans, old man!"

            The chorus of requests targeted at the generally shy Vincent elicited a response from Joe. "Valentine and I used to be Turks together."

            The ex-chocobo racer's statement caught everyone off guard, especially the present-day Turks. This old man with a silly hat was once a deadly Turk? Reno was the first to vocalize their questions.

            "You mean to tell me you were a Turk, old man?"

            Joe, despite his arms being tied behind his back, walked straight up to the red headed Turk. There wasn't the slightest hint of fear in his eyes. A chocobo jockey willing to stand up to a Turk? "You're damn right I was a Turk, son. One of the best fucking Turks you've ever seen. An original, too!"

            _Yep, he's a Turk alright. Anyone could spot that Turk attitude a mile away. They're not even afraid of their own kind._

            Cloud knew this wasn't going to get anywhere fast. It took them about a half of an hour to get Joe so say _anything_ before, and no one could hope to make Vincent speak when he didn't want to.

            His attention quickly turned back to the two his eyes had been riveted on the whole night. "Ok, well, what's going on here? I mean… Biggs? Jessie?"

            Jessie managed to pull herself out of Tifa's strong embrace (Tifa had the mind set that if she could hug it, it was real). With a smirk, she directed Cloud's question else where. "Why don't you ask Reno?"

            Reno's face contorted into an I-Can't-Believe-You-Just-Said-That-You-Little-Punk-and-Stop-Looking-At-Me-Like-That stare. After emitting a long sigh at the thought of having to talk to Strife, he began his story. 

            "Yeah, well, just because I'm a Turk doesn't mean I'm a bastard. I mean, I grew up right next door to the Sector 7 slums. Tseng did too. There were a lot of kids down there that didn't deserve death, so we didn't give it to them. Right before I put in the codes for the plate to drop, Tseng issued an order to have the area evac-ed. Simple as that."

            Before this, no one saw Reno as a "nice guy." He liked it that way. He fed on fear and hatred. Luckily for Reno, it didn't look like he'd starve, because no one seemed too interested in his act of kindness. Cloud, Tifa and Barret were only half listening to his explanation. They only picked up on the facts that explained the sudden re-emergence of their lost friends – not on Reno's valiant effort.

            Tifa was overjoyed. She darted to the kitchen, her mind set on whipping something special up tonight. Wedge always loved her food. It had been too long since she heard his generous compliments being paid through a full mouth. Where was Wedge, anyway?

            She poked her head back into the main room, eyes aimed straight for Jessie. "So where's Wedge?"

            The seemingly innocent question immediately got a teary response for Jessie. Through sniffles, she attempted to answer. "Wedge… he… he…"

            Biggs quickly came to his hurt friend's aid. "Wedge… didn't make it. We tried, but, he was already… gone. We flew him out, but there was nothing we could do for him."

            Silence. That goddamned silence filled the room. The silence so quiet that you could hear someone's heart breaking. The silence so quiet that you can hear that glimmer of hope, so new to someone's life, being ripped out of their tight grasp.

            Vincent was not afraid to tread on this silence. He let a few moments pass before speaking. "I think someone should tend to Yuffie."

            Much to his surprise, his words were not met with anger. No one asked how he could think of some little girl while Tifa was grieving over the death of a friend. _Maybe I relieved some tension?_ He was beginning to forget how the human mind worked

            "We'll check up on the girl." It was Biggs that offered. As he stood, he tugged on Jessie's arm, getting her to follow. He had a feeling Tifa would burst into complete sobs if she saw Jessie cry anymore.

            It only took a matter of moments for Biggs to come back from Yuffie's room. The grim look on his face didn't give anyone much hope. "I think she's got Mako poisoning…"

A/N: Ok, I'm gonna cut myself off here, because the next chapter should be a doozy. Apologies to all you Wedge fans out there. I know I loved him. Anywho, Review and make me smile. Or, rather, Review OR ELSE I'LL KILL OFF YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER!!! WAHAHAHAHA!!!


	17. A Watchful Eye

Disclaimer: All right, I'm done with this disclaimer B.S. SO, from here on out, for the rest of the additions to Times of Separation, SQUARE OWNS EVERYTHING. I said it, but I will say it no more…

A/N: Well, there's seems to be a bit of confusion about exactly what went on last chapter (mostly with what's up with Yuffie). Too much suspense is a bad thing, eh? Well, all will hopefully be explained in this pretty much all Vinnie chapter. I love little wanna-be vamps. They're so angsty…

**Chapter 13: A Watchful Eye**

A sweat dampened green shirt clung to a frail chest as the slow movements of respiration gave a visible sign of life. It was the only sign being given. But Yuffie hadn't passed out, simply fallen asleep.

Her fever wasn't that far along yet. It wouldn't be for at the very least a few more hours, but most likely the sickness would spare her until mid-day tomorrow. Or at least that's what Vincent Valentine hoped for.

Despite all of Tifa's efforts to get the cold man to come down for dinner, he had not moved a muscle. He even refused to put to use the chair placed at Yuffie's bedside by her. He was content standing inches to the left of the open door to Miss Kissiragi's room.

He wouldn't leave her side. Not when it was his fault…

"I think she's got Mako poisoning…" 

_Vincent didn't need to hear the explanation __Reno__ was preparing himself to offer. He knew the reason she was sick. He could still picture the exact moment that caused this._

But that didn't stop Reno from vocalizing the reason. "Valentine, didn't you find her in the sewer? That's probably what did it. That Meteor thing caused all sorts of shit to go wrong with the Reactors. About a fourth of all the Mako in Midgar ended up leaking into the waterways and sewer system."

Cid was quick to the point the finger. The pilot never took a liking to the ex-Turk, and Vincent knew it. That's why his words didn't surprise him. It was like Cid had been waiting for Vincent to slip up…

 "The brats sick 'cause o' you! Why'da hell'd you separate 'er from us anyway!?" 

Why did he separate her from them? There was too much confusion. He let himself get too caught up in the battle. His judgment slipped. He put her in the first place he could find, without thinking.

Why did he let her get captured? He let himself get too carried away. He was more focused on helping Reno than he was on protecting her.

_Helping __Reno__!? Ha! Vincent knew better than that. We wasn't helping Reno, he was killing. He was killing three people instead of watching out for Yuffie. Like a true monster._

This was another sin for him. He left her alone. He didn't protect her. He didn't run fast enough to catch up to that thing before it entered the sewer. He did react quick enough to catch her before she fell.

He, more than anyone, knew those were sins, not mistakes. He was one of the best Turks ever to live. He was a genetically enhanced soldier. All of those things were possible for him, he just didn't do them. 

What a monster! 

A soft creak from a floorboard was all it took to wake Yuffie. As tired as she was, the heat from the fever didn't make sleep easy. She wearily peaked open an eye to see the disturbance. "Oh… Hi Cloud…"

"Hey, Yuffie. How are you feeling?" His voice seemed a little detached. Vincent couldn't help but wonder what was wrong.

A single, weak shrug was the girl's only response. She could've replied, but she didn't want to waste the energy.

It was all the same to Cloud, because she wasn't the one he was here to see. "Vince, can I talk to you outside for a minute?"

Valentine would've protested, but before he could, he picked up on the look in Cloud's eyes. What needed to be said couldn't be said in front of Yuffie, for whatever reason. He silently followed Cloud out into the hallway.

The hall, along with the rest of the building, seemed oddly devoid of activity. Almost everyone had retired to their sleeping quarters already. _How long have I been in there?_

"Vincent…" The single word from Cloud's lips held such heaviness in it that a bit of worry crept up in Vincent's chest. It took quiet sometime for the spikey-haired leader to follow that one word. "Look, you're by far the most experienced of all of us. As much slack as everyone gives you, I think we all know that…"

Cloud paused to gauge Vincent's reaction so far. The only response Vincent gave was a look that silently spoke the words his mind was saying: "get to the point."

"All right. I think there's a spy." Again, no vocal reply, so Cloud continued. "Things have seemed a little off. I took a good look at the times on the surveillance tapes. The Kidnapper high-tailed it apparently just a few hours before we showed. That's about the same time Tif and I were calling everyone. Then, there's an army of those… things, just waiting for the Turks in Midgar. And, I kept getting this strange feeling in Junon. Like everything was fake – it had just been set up before we got there, ya know?"

Vincent listened fully, but didn't exactly give much thought to the subject. If this was all Cloud had to go on, then they had no leads what-so-ever, just suspicions. There was nothing they could do about it.

He could tell Cloud wouldn't be satisfied without some encouragement or advice. That's what he came to Vincent for after all. "Without a suspect, all we can do is be careful, and observant."

Cloud didn't need Vincent to elaborate. During their travels Cloud had grown accustomed to interpreting any suggestions Vincent had to offer. Be careful and observant meant: "Don't let out any secrets. Only say what you must to the people you must tell them to. Keep an eye on everyone and everything, most importantly, on your own back."

"Thanks." There was a hint of displeasure in Cloud's voice, but not because of a lack of gratefulness. He truly took to heart Vincent's help, and thought it would be effective. His displeasure was at the fact that he indeed had no one in mind. Who could the traitor be?

Vincent didn't pay much mind to Cloud's worries. Sure, a double agent would hinder their plans, but what could Vincent do about it? He knew next to nothing about anyone in their ranks, other than Tifa. Everyone knew she would never betray them. So, the detective work would be left up to Cloud.

Yuffie could barely make sense of anything around her. All she could feel was the heat that had over taken her body. Nothing could touch her senses other than that, besides the occasional sensation of a rolling drop of sweat.

_GAWD, it's hot! I'd take off these gawd-forsaken clothes if Vinnie wasn't around so much. Where'd that over protective vampire go, anyway?_

In all honesty, Yuffie was barely aware of Vincent's presence most of the time. Occasionally, the haze around her vision would fade and she would catch a swatch of crimson cloth out of the corner of her eye. She didn't know why, but she found it oddly soothing.

The soft murmur of Valentine's voice also brought comfort to Yuffie's aching soul. Though most of the time all she could make out were sounds, she could recall one conversation in depth. She always paid attention to matters that involved her.

_"How's she holdin' up?"_

_The voice was familiar. If Yuffie would guess, she'd say it was __Reno__'s, though she couldn't figure out why the handsome Turk would be worried about an immature thief like herself…_

_"She is doing well, considering the amount of Mako in her bloodstream."_

_Ahh__, the sweet soothing sounds of Vincent Valentine. Short, sweet and to the point. Wait, what the hell was she thinking? Did she just mentally say that? She REALLY must be sick…_

_"You can tell how much of that shit's in her blood just by looking at her?"_

_"The eyes."___

_Vincent was a Turk before Shinra Inc had so much help. __Reno__'s generation of Turks were assassins and kidnappers. Vincent's were everything from assassins, to soldiers, to librarians, to personal assistants and everything in between. He personally chose to spend his time with Lucrecia in the labs when he was instructed to "find something to do." He knew the glow of Mako very well._

_"Shit… She's not gonna go comatoce like hero boy, is she?"_

_"No. Cloud was exposed to a much higher amount of Mako. As much of it as there was in the reactors, it's nothing compared to the lifestream."_

_"So just a couple of days of this fever BS and she'll be all right?"_

Only a few days. She guessed that was good, in the long run, but for right now, another day seemed like it would kill her. At least she wasn't in a coma. She had almost completely forgotten about Cloud's dip in the lifestream.

Vincent slowly opened the door to Yuffie's room. Despite how new the inn was, the doors still had a tendency to creek. Most couldn't pick it up, but Vincent often forgot about his heightened senses. He assumed if he could hear it, everyone else could.

There she was, laying so very peacefully. But Valentine knew better. She was in a world of unseen torture, and it was all because of him. His lack of foresight, his flaw in judgment, his cowardice, his impatience, his distrust. It was _his_ fault.

Just another sin to add to his list. He helped bring power the most corrupt corporation ever to exist. He had killed countless numbers of people. He inadvertently aided Hojo's quest for domination. He stood by idly as his one love fell victim to a madman. He helped kill Sephiroth. He failed to restore his beloved Lucrecia's health. He had let her be taken away by whatever threat they face now.

And now, worst of all, he let this poor, innocent adolescent fall ill. All because of his flaws. All because of his weakness. All because of his misjudgment. All because of him.

It wasn't until the small form of Yuffie stirred beneath her sheets that Vincent was brought out of his dark reverie. 

"Vinnie… you came back…" Her voice was so weak, so pitiful. It reminded Vincent of the weakness in Lucrecia's voice when she spoke the last words he heard before Hojo's bullet tore through his flesh.

He couldn't find it in him to speak. He rarely could. It was his responsibility to care for her, but he would leave it at that. He would not subject her to his words. A long, slender, gloved finger stretched vertically across his lips. Yuffie needed her rest. She didn't need to speak to anyone like him.

The sweat was beginning to take its toll on Yuffie frail body. Dehydration had hit her while she slept. It was an event Vincent had prepared for. Before she could call out to her guardian for help, Yuffie felt the cold rim of a glass being pressed to her lips.

Vincent didn't bother to tell her to drink it, he knew her inherent survival instincts would kick in. She wasted no time in hurriedly drinking the entire contents of the glass. At first, she had trouble swallowing the water. The harsh dryness in her throat provided a long, difficult journey for the liquid.

The young girl couldn't even find the energy to hold the glass herself. Vincent found himself standing at her bedside aiding her in the most basic action a human could have – drinking water. It would be another long night for Vincent Valentine.

A/N: Ok. Recently I've had a few guesses that this is going to be a Yuffentine, and I'm sure this chapter just helped "confirm" those beliefs. But I say this to you: things are never as simple as they seem. Anyway, in the next few chapters, we'll have more of the other characters, don't worry. And the identity of the traitor will be revealed. And lots more action. Then, after the action, some mush, and then this fic is finito! PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!


	18. Head First

A/N: Ok, this "book" is coming to an end. Good for me, the stuff I have in mind for the sequel/partII should be a lot more fun to read (and write).

****

Chapter 14: Head First

Cloud took his time getting out of bed. He was never a good spy, so last night took a lot out of him. Peaking in doors and listening in on conversations didn't seem like they'd be that hard. Unfortunately, he forgot how difficult the whole not getting caught part would be. And after all that work, he still had no idea who the spy was.

As he slowly descended the stairs of the Tranquillity he was caught a bit off guard finding Cid of all people awake before he was. The fully roused forms of Tifa and Vincent were routine sights for the AVALANCHE leader, but this was something new.

The old pilot gingerly sipped the coffee Tifa had presented him just moments before Cloud's arrival. Vincent was getting a late start on tending to his weapons off in the corner. And Tifa was no where to be found.

Cloud had experienced some of Cid's coffee before, so when he saw a lack of thick, black tar in the man's cup, he assumed Tifa had made it. The pilot quickly picked up on the confusion across Cloud's face.

"Tif's lookin' afta the brat. Finally talked the ol' geezer inta lettin' 'is sights offa 'er."

A slight nod was the only response the still half-asleep Cloud could think to give. So, that explained to him where Tifa was. Nothing out of the ordinary there. But what the hell was Cid doing awake so early. Something _definitely_ out of the ordinary there.

"So, Spike, siddown. Lemme talk ta ya for a minute."

Here it came. Cid had something up his sleeve, and Cloud was too tired to refuse whatever scheme he planned. Tiredly and obediently, Cloud's legs took him to a barstool next to the man and swiftly deposited the rest of his body down.

"So here's wha' I think. We got ourselves tha' chocobo rider wit us now, right? Why don we jus' fly our asses in ta Junon and use tha punk as bait?"

Cloud thought the suggestion over. It seemed logical enough. But despite how logical as it was, it was even stupider and deadlier. They didn't know who they were up against. They couldn't just waltz right in. "But, Cid, there's-"

"Wait up now. I know I'm old an' shit, but I ain't senile yet. We ain't got a year ta spend on this shit like last time. I got Shera's ass and a unborn fuckin' baby to go home to. Gun-arm boy's tha mayor of a fuckin' town. Tif's got this bar o' hers to be runnin'. Red's tha leader o' tha Canyon. We gotta get this shit over with."

Cid was right. How could he still be so blind to everyone else? He was bored and had all the time in the world. The rest of AVALANCHE didn't. Things weren't the same as they were a year ago.

"Cid. You're right. I'll go get ready. Tell Tifa to wake the others." And silently, he mentally added: _And let's go finish this all once and for all._

After Cloud had returned to his room, Cid's head solemnly lowered until it met the polished bar top. Forgetting Vincent was still in the room, he thought aloud in a low mumble. "I'm gettin' too old for this shit…"

It was only 10:00 am and Tifa was already sweating with worries about the day's events. Just about everyone was in their rooms getting ready for this day of uncertainty. No one really knew what they would find. They all were so used to taking their time and making sure they knew what they were up against, but rushing in like this had everyone preparing for the worst. 

Well, almost everyone. Yuffie still laid incapacitated in her bed. Vincent insisted on venturing out into the plains on foot, despite the rain. Apparently (or, at least, what Tifa assumed), thirty years ago, Turks were required to pass a medicinal chemistry course: he was gathering natural supplies to make some sort of concoction for Yuffie.

Cid was holed up in the Highwind. The original Highwind (unfortunately destroyed in the aftermath of Meteor) had been a batter ready fighter. This new airship was not quite ready for the task that lied ahead. He had to make preparations. And she was left to herself. An empty room filled with nothing but her worries.

The silence had been weighing down on her a bit too much. Occasionally she would alleviate the pressure by speaking her thoughts out loud. "Cloud, do you really know what you're doing?"

"I wouldn't bet on it, babe." A blue suit caught Tifa's attention. She usually loathed even the sound of Reno's voice, but for some reason when no one else was around, he spoke much more smoothly.

"I thought you were giving up on being rude?" _I thought I saw something better inside you._

"What, you can question the Spikey-headed nerd's judgment and I can't?" Reno folded his arms and dumped himself into the nearest chair. He still felt odd around Tifa. Odd and vulnerable. Why the hell did he have to have that god-forsaken dream.

But he chose not to dwell. When trying to forget something, the next best thing to a shot of something hard was to change the subject. "So, what's your problem with the geek's decision?"

Tifa stood silently behind her bar before answering. Did Reno actually care what she thought? "It's just that we're rushing in so quickly. We still don't know anything and – "

"And he thinks we'll actually be able to stop whatever the hell is waiting for us? Yeah, I feel the same way." Reno took the words that Tifa was too afraid to utter right out of her mouth. She didn't feel fit to doubt Cloud's judgment, but Reno felt right at home doing.

"So, what do you plan on doing?" The question was one Reno had been pondering about since he awoke. What they hell were he and the Turks going to do?

__

I can't risk the lives of Rude and Laney. I can't risk the life of Reeve. I can't follow the poor judgment of a jackass in a soldier uniform. I can't pass up the only opportunity we might have.

The decision wasn't an easy one, but Reno had made up his mind at that very minute. "I'm telling Rude and Elena to go home." He said it, and he would make sure it would be done.

But the look in Tifa's eyes told him he wasn't off the hook yet. "I didn't ask what the Turks were doing, I asked what _you_ were."

This answer was even more difficult than the last. Could he really follow the orders of Cloud Strife, International Man of Terrorism? Would he honestly be able to swallow that much of his pride? And what the hell was he doing talking this over with Tifa Lockheart, International Woman of Terrorism?

So, in smooth move taken from Valentine's book, Reno left the bar in cryptic silence. This was a decision he'd come to with his fellow Turks.

Vincent Valentine tore through the rain like it wasn't there. He didn't let a single drop slow him down or force him to take his attention off his goal. He was making great time – he was almost to the Chocobo Ranch already.

But what the hell is he doing heading towards the Chocobo Ranch, anyway? In his early Turk days, Vincent had learned the recipe for an odd antidote for Mako poisoning that consists mostly of various greens.

__

"Lucrecia, we've got another case of Mako poisoning." Professor Gahst's scrambled voice came over the loudspeaker in one of Shinra's testing labs. No matter how much time Vincent spent around these labs, he still never saw Gahst's face – he only heard his voice over that loudspeaker.

Lucrecia put the few test tubes that she was messing with away and walked over to the Turk leaning on the counter. She gently pushed down the book Vincent Valentine was reading to catch his attention. "Sorry, Vincent. Duty calls and I'm not allowed to leave anyone in the lab while I'm gone."

Vincent had quite a tough time keeping the disappointment from showing on his face. He and Lucrecia had been growing closer together, but they were still in the dreaded 'friend zone.' A quiet, secluded, dimly lit science lab was the kind of romantic situation a scientist and a Turk could only dream about. But now they had to abandon it.

"But you can tag along if you want."

Sweet redemption. Her offer, her voice, herself – his saving grace. Of course he wants to tag along, lovely Lucrecia. Who in their right mind wouldn't? "If you wouldn't mind."

Soon, both were in the Shinra Science Department's infirmary. This was Vincent's first time in the room – most of the people he dealt with were sent straight to the morgue. 

Vincent's eyes took in every movement Lucrecia made. He was hypnotized by the way her lab coat flowed behind her like a cape as she seemed to float to a cabinet on a far wall. He watched her slender fingers wrap around a silver handle just before she quickly opened the door. He watched her beautiful brown eyes search through the contents of the cabinet for what she had come for. What was wrong with him? Turks weren't supposed to fall in love.

Soon, this particular Turk's love was underlines with confusion as Vincent recognized what she had removed from storage. "Isn't that Chocobo food?"

Yes, Lucrecia taught Vincent many things during their stay together - even how to make effective medicines out of simple, easy to find products. Once Vincent had a greater grasp for the sciences of their world, it seemed only obvious. Mako is the planet's life stream. Mako poisoning is an overdose of life stream. A dead plant, like the dried out greens often given to Chocobos, once in a human digestive track, would absorb the Mako.

If the ex-Turk would've cared enough, he would've shaken his head at the though. How dependant humans have become on technology over the last 31 years that a natural medicine seemed to foreign to them. It was a shame, really.

"What the hell are you talking about, Reno?! We are _not_ going home!" Elena's temper was flaring and she didn't move to hide it. Rude stood in the background, arms folded tightly over his chest, sunglasses covering his eyes from the prying world.

On the outside, he was the perfect picture of calm acceptance, but Reno knew much better than to trust such a facade. When they were alone, with no witnesses, Rude wouldn't hesitate to express his distress for Reno's decision - he would never be insubordinate to his leader in front of anyone, including Elena.

"Laney, calm down and shut up. I've made my decision. You two take Biggs and Jessie back to Midgar. Reeve's missing and it's our job to find him - "

"EXACTLY! It's _our_ job to find him, not yours! We are Turks. We act as a group. You are no more fit for this than we are!"

Now, Reno was getting angry. Him and Elena never got along too well, plus he hated being interrupted. "Look, Elena, would you just shut up for a minute? If you would let me finish, you'd have all your goddamn answers!" After taking a moment to collect himself, Reno let out a quiet sigh and continued. "Reeve is missing, but that is not our top priority. Officially, we are _not_ Reeve's bodyguards, thought that is a big part of our job. Technically, the Turks, as a whole, are Reeve's second in command. That means not only protecting him, but making sure his will gets done. So, right now, the top thing on our list is Midgar. So, you two, take Jessie and Biggs back to Midgar and keep the reconstruction projects moving. Reeve's made a shit-load of progress in the past year, and we aren't going to sit back and let that go to waste. Now, go or I'll shoot you."

"Alright, here's the plan..." Cloud looked out over the room full of people. Tifa and Barret sat next to each other on barstools. Marlene played next to her adoptive father on the bar. Cid sat a few stools down (per Barret's request) with a lit cigarette dangling out of his mouth. Cait Sith hopped around in its usual fashion about various parts of the room. Reno stood against a wall near the bar twirling his Electro Mag rod, giving Cait a good whack whenever he would venture too far into Reno's territory.

Reno had sent the rest of the Turks, along with Biggs and Jessie, on their way about fifteen minutes prior. There were a few tearful good byes (mostly between Tifa, Barret, Jessie and Biggs - the original AVALANCHE). Yuffie was still bed ridden in her room. Last time Tifa checked on her, she was still unconscious. Cloud had no idea were Vincent was. No one ever really knew where the mysterious man was unless he wanted them to know.

And, last but certainly not least, Chocobo Joe, their not-so-friendly prisoner, sat on the hard wood floor next to Cloud. "We're gonna take Joe here to Juno with us. If they want to use one of ours to lure us in, then we'll use one of theirs to lure them out."

No one really knew why Cloud insisted on these little gatherings every time they left to do something. Cloud wasn't exactly sure himself. Maybe he missed the excitement of the adventure. Maybe it made him feel like he belonged again. Maybe it made him feel important again. Well, whatever the reason, he kept today's speech short.

"So, everyone'll be getting into the Highwind once Vincent gets back and - "

"I won't be coming." A low, quiet voice cut across the room.

Cid was quick to jump up with shock (and because his cigarette had fallen out of his mouth and into his lap). "Damnit, Valentine! What tha hell ya gotta come creepin' in all secretive 'n' shit for?!"

Vincent ignored Cid and looked to Cloud questioning gaze. "What do you mean you won't be coming?"

Vincent began walking off towards the stair case silently. As his foot reach the first stair, he called back over his shoulder. "Someone has to stay and take care of Yuffie."

A/N: Well, there's number 14. Yeah, not a whole lot happened here, but I felt like I was ignoring Reno a bit too much, so I gave him a bit of play. Plus, I desperately needed to update this thing. A very lengthy set-up for the action of the next chapter. Please Review. Pretty please.


	19. A Shot in the Dark

A/N: Action time - Let's fight!

****

Chapter 15: Shot in the Dark

No light illuminated the room. The thin line of light from the outside had just been closed off by a man who didn't belong. The darkness covered the thin body of a teenage girl. A 58 year old man held no place in a teenage girl's bedroom.

But, nonetheless, Vincent Valentine was there, in spite of the lack of light. A man with his physical enhancements didn't need light, and a girl trying to get some much needed sleep would only be hurt by it. So the shade had been drawn, the lamps turned off, and the door closed.

In his good hand, Vincent held a glass filled with a mostly see-through liquid that was slightly tinted green. He hoped the odd looking drink would be the key to recovery for the girl in front of him.

Despite his lack of fondness for artificial lighting, or any lighting at that, one of Vincent's metallic talons flicked on a bedside lamp. If Yuffie were to awaken to a room with nothing in it besides darkness and two red glowing eyes, she would surely be frightened. 

The new light lit up Yuffie young face. The sickness had left her quite nauseated. When she was awake enough in the past two days to eat, she had refused, convinced it would come right back up. This showed through in the paleness of her skin. Only a few hours ago, after the others had left for Junon, did Vincent first get her to drink a bit of water.

He hoped he could get her to drink again as he dipped his finger into the glass of tonic. He gently let the liquid drip from his fingers to her cracked, parched lips. The sensation brought her attention back to the wakeful world, but perhaps too quickly.

Once they opened, Yuffie's eyes were wide with fear. They searched the room, darting back and forth, searching the room for... _something_. Her lips parted to emit a scream, but nothing came out. Then, crimson eyes brought her back to reality.

Her raspy voice squeezed out through a dangerously dry throat. "Oh... Vincent... thank god..."

She was thankfully cut off by the stern voice Vincent emitted. "Quiet." He pushed the rim of the glass in his hand against her lips. "Drink."

Yuffie immediately obeyed, and wisely so. Vincent had tried to get her to drink the medicinal drink he had whipped up numerous times today, each instance met by stubborn refusal. He was not amused by it.

Despite the sour face Yuffie made as she drank, Vincent kept one unmoving finger underneath the glass, preventing her from pulling it away from her face. It had taken him this long to even get her to take a sip - he would not let her stop now.

Once the glass was emptied, Yuffie pulled it away and let out a sound of disgust. "Ewww... what is that crap?"

"It will help." He assumed it would be best not to tell her what exactly the concoction was. A young girl like Yuffie wouldn't react well to being tricked into drinking chocobo food.

Yuffie sniffed the rim of the glass. "It smells like something out of a pet store."

If Vincent Valentine was the kind of person who laughed, he would've. This girl was smarter than anyone gave her credit for. But, despite that victory in Yuffie's battle for maturity, she followed it with a loss - giving in to her talkative nature.

"Man, those hallucinations are a doozy Vinnie. I dunno how Cloud put up with it for as long as he did. Then again, I guess it wasn't really his choice, was it? No, I guess not. Anyway, whenever I go to sleep, there's always this green stuff and people yelling at me. It's scary. I'm glad you here, Vinnie..."

As her mouth kept strong, Vincent's attention grew weak. He managed to adjust to many of Yuffie's quirks, and his way of adjusting to the over-use of her voice was to "zone out" as some liked to call it.

The setting sun sent 8 long shadows down the nearest Junon street. 8 long shadows didn't add up to the long day the 8 figures casting them had. Joe didn't prove to be a very cooperative hostage. Apparently, he was quite friendly with a few local Junon thugs. Unfortunately, a few thugs didn't add up very well to 6 AVALANCHE members and a Turk.

"That's it! I'm sick of this shit!" Reno had managed to keep relatively silent for most of the day, so he made sure his one outburst was memorable - he followed it up by lifting their prisoner off of his feet and pressing his back against the nearest building.

"Reno, put him d - "

"Fuck off, you spikey-headed freak. I went along for your bullshit shot in the dark plan, and it isn't working. We've been doing this your way all day long and we're still wandering around aimlessly. Let a pro-fucking-fessional handle this." Reno's head slowly turned to let him look straight into Joe's eyes. Anger flared in every feature of his face. His eyebrow gave an angry twitch every so often.

The tension in the air made the few seconds Reno stared into Joe seem like hours. Then, the Electro Mag rod that no one noticed Reno remove from inside his jacket sparked into activity dangerously close to Joe's face. This drained the anger from the Turk's face and replaced his harsh grimace with a smug smirk. _Let the interrogation begin._

After quickly flicking off it's power, the hard steel of Reno's weapon found it's way across Joe's face. "I think it's time to talk now, don't you?" A moment of silence sent Reno back into action. 

"You little fuck!" A hard blow to Joe's cranium was quickly followed by the low electric hum of Reno igniting the power of his favorite toy. "Listen. If you don't talk, there's no use to you. Turks always make sure to dispose of useless things. Do we understand each other?"

A few pants later, Reno got his response: harsh, maniacal laughter. "You little punk. You won't do a damn thing. You _can't_ do a damn thing!" That definitely wasn't the answer he had hoped for.

Reno made his displeasure known to his victim by sending somewhere between 75 and 100 volts of raw electricity through his groin. "I don't know if you heard me or not, but I asked if we understood each other. So, do we?"

Joe searched for the words he could use to respond to Reno's violence, but after finding them, he realized he would never be able to utter them through the fast gasps of air his body had naturally begun to take in. Instead, he found an action to suit his mood. 

Reno never enjoyed getting spit upon. Although the foul stench of charred pubic hair had already began repulsing him, no Turk would let such an act go unpunished. A fist thrust into a throat, a rod jabbed into a sternum [1], 300 volts of electricity began to fuse the bones of a rib cage together. Joe's screams of pure agony made it hard for Reno to here Tifa's screaming in the background.

"Reno, look out!"

The Electro Mag rod left Joe's poor body and Reno turned his head around to give Tifa a confused look, but it was too late. He hadn't heard the blast, but the bullet was already in the air. His confusion was cleared up as he recognized the sharp pain of lead tearing mercilessly through the muscle of his left forearm. The gunman managed to hit him in the arm that had rendered Joe immobile.

"Reno!" Tifa's dash to Reno's falling body was cut short by a boot planted strategically into her left shoulder. Sure, a shot to the throat would've done more harm, but it was just so fun to see her go spinning through the air like that.

Tifa landed hard on her back, staring straight into her assailant's face. Her long ebony hair flowed in the slight breeze that passed through the streets of Junon. One beautiful brown left eye was counter acted be a metallic orb in the woman's right eye socket. Tifa assumed the scar that ran through where her eye would be was the culprit.

A quick smile was Tifa's assailant's only good bye. The slender figure of a woman dressed in all black dashed towards her next target: Cloud Strife. Unfortunately for her, he was much more prepared that Tifa.

With the Ultima Weapon ready and glowing with power, Cloud launched himself into the air and landed straight upon their attacker. Or, rather, where their attacker was a split second before. _That's impossible!_

Luckily for Cloud, Reno had recovered his sense and was waiting behind the dark-clad female. This time, he wasn't playing around like he was with Joe: his weapon was set to kill. The small tongs that provided the "kick" in Reno's Electro Mag rod found their way in between the woman's shoulder blades. A sharp shrill cry let Reno know his attack hurt. A leg kicking backwards, making dead on contact with his groin, let Reno know it didn't phase her too terribly. 

But, once again, the safety in numbers was on AVALANCHE's side. The bladed end of the Venus Gospel pressed itself unto the tender skin covering the woman's throat. Cid spoke through clenched "Better watch yourself." And thus, their battle begun. A blow to the woman's head - evaded quickly through a simple duck. A fist darting towards Cid's abdomen blocked by an upwards shooting knee. A lance to the face - blocked by a forearm. Kick to the side, blocked by the Venus's shaft. Every blow dealt by one was parried by the other. It was quite a sight.

"Ash! Get off your ass and help me!"

A medium height, muscular man came into view and to Joe's aid. He looked down and examined the condition of his ally as he re-holstered the gun that had handicapped Reno. "Got a knife on ya?"

"No. Does it look like I have a fucking knife on me!?"

The well built man simply shrugged. "Neither do I. Guess you'll be staying put for a bit." He silently walked off as the former Chocobo Jockey threw curses at his back, but he couldn't hear them. His eyes were locked on Tifa Lockheart.

Tifa rolled to her uninjured side while wondering how such a small woman could cause so much physical pain. But, as she stood, she was forced to wonder something a bit different: who was this mean looking fellow walking towards her?

Instead of stopping to ask, she took the initiative. She sent her left fist en route to the man's face. A large, muscular hand easily caught the attack and held her in place - something she hoped he would do. Pulling up on the man's arm for leverage, Tifa arched her back into a summersault. Two feet, one right after the other, made two loud cracking sounds as they made contact under the man's lower jaw.

Ash stumbled, but did not fall. His fingers went up to touch his lips and came down bloody - she had caused him to bite straight through his own lip. "Nice to meet you, too..."

Ash had an interesting way of saying hello; he charged at Tifa full speed, throwing his right fist into the air. She brushed off the blow with her arm just in time to see his other fist coming straight for her. A step back evaded that blow, but the man just kept coming. Another shot from his right was blocked in the same manner as the first. Another throw from the left, chopped away with Tifa's left. The right fist flew again - blocked by Tifa's right arm. The next blow from the left, blocked with Tifa's left.

Tifa Lockheart had been so intent on blocking her assailants next move that she didn't even notice that he hadn't removed his right hand from hers, but rather clutched it tightly. After doing the same with the left, his leg gave out underneath him. He rolled to his side and took Tifa with him. Soon she found herself quite a distance from the fight with a growing pain in her back.

Ash barely had time to admire his handy work before a low growl piqued his curiosity. He instantly regretted turning around when he caught his first glimpse of Nanaki's bright red fur. "Oh shit..."

Barret was on his way to help out Cid and Cloud, but was distracted by the gunfire being hailed at his back. Junon had served as home to all of Shinra's now unemployed SOLDIERs. First class and some second class SOLDIERs had all been able to earn livings by renting them selves out as mercinaries, but who would want to pay for a 3rd class?

He aimed his massive gun arm at what seemed to be the leader of the group (or at least the guy standing in front). "Look, punks, I dun want ta 'urt ya, but I will." _God, please let them back down. I don't want to be a killer anymore. I don't want to be a killer..._

Unfortunately, SOLDIER 3rd class men had a hard time listening (probably because of those stupid helmets). The "leader" was the first to fire and subsequently the first to fall. Three holes compliments of the Missing Score poured out the red liquid of life profusely. The rest of the group froze for a second to gawk at their fallen leader, and Barret made sure to take advantage of the situation.

He ran in close range to the group. Towering over even the tallest attacker, he took his changes going hand (singular) to hand (plural). His good fist flew into the stomach of one as his metallic gun-arm came down in a tomahawk fashion to finish the job. From the lack of blood, Barret assumed (and hoped) that the man was passed out rather than deceased. 

The remaining three SOLDIERs retreaded some bit and then opened up the ammunition flood gates. Barret could be surprisingly athletic when the situation called for it. With a quick dive to his right, the large beast of a man found himself covered by the corner of a building. It seemed to be the perfect spot for a gunfight. 

[1] The sternum is in the center of the chest, for those who don't know.

A/N: Once again, these chapters are taking on a life of their own. I wanted to get the whole thing done in no more than 2000 words. I'm already over that mark and I'm only about half way done. So I'll cut things off here. Read the next chapter to find what perils await Yuffie and Vincent (aren't I cheesy?). Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Please review this one too.


	20. A Bloody Mess

A/N: Yeah, this chapter is WAY too long. And this is the cut up, two chapter version. Remember how it was supposed to be part of the last chapter. Yeah, glad I separated it now, eh? Anyway, read on.

Chapter 16: A Bloody Mess

Over the past few hours, the homemade medicine seemed to be working rather well. Nevertheless, Yuffie still occasionally slipped back into a Mako-induced state of dreaming [1]. Whenever she would wake, another mindless rant would began. She described the events of her dreaming. The green liquid she seemed to be soaked in. The voices that yelled at her and told her things she only wished she could understand. The kind of gibberish Vincent didn't care to listen to over and over again.

Vincent's resolved to tune out Yuffie was broken when a particular utterance brought back a few unpleasant memories. "Have you ever gotten Mako poisoning, Vinnie?" She then continued with her rant, not really expect an answer from such a quiet man. Little did she know the internal chain of memories she set off.

__

Have I ever had Mako poisoning? Yes, I have been poisoned by far more than Mako. That is a poison I will never forget... 

Vincent Valentine's mind traveled back to a time when he was just Vincent, the Turk. The memory was broken. All memories after the gun shot that ripped through not only his shoulder, but his soul, seemed to be broken. He remembered the haze that surrounded his vision, but no amount of haze could blur out the beautiful face of Lucrecia. No haze could blur the detached look in her eyes as she injected a large amount of a green glowing substance into his upper arm.

And no amount of haze could ever hope to blur out the sadistic grin on Hojo's face as he watched the whole thing. In a barely audible voice, Vincent recalled what he muttered to that vile beast in his last moment of consciousness.

_"What did you make her do to me?"_

A deeply disturbing grin came to Hojo's lips before he answered. "You've been injected with highly concentrated Mako. You see, there are a few... procedures, that we need to perform on you. Regular anesthetic would be far too easy and pleasant for a demon like you..."

A demon like him. It was the first time Vincent Valentine had ever been referred to as a demon. That was the one thing he and Hojo ever agreed on - he was indeed a demon. Only Hojo saw it well before anyone else. Maybe the twisted scientist was smarter than everyone gave him credit for.

Then, a sound in the distance caused Vincent's head to snap up in attention. He listened carefully. There was a definite rustling sound coming from somewhere. It wasn't there before.

"Vinnie, what's wrong?" Yuffie refrained from her speech to ask something of importance, but got only silence as a response.

After sitting silently for a few moments, Vincent quickly stood, check his cloak pocket to be sure he was armed, and headed to the door silently. Yuffie was left in a heap of confusion.

"Yuffie, whatever you do, do _not_ come out of this room." The sound of a door being locked from the other side hammered home the importance of the simple statement. _This can't be good..._

Vincent thanked his heightened senses. He had detected the presence of the intruders before they managed to make their entrance. He sat perched atop the stair well, gun aimed straight at the front door, where their visitors seemed to be attempting to enter from. With Peacemaker in hand, he set his mind to "shoot first ask questions later" mode. I mean, why would an ally be picking the lock anyway? Right?

As the door opened, one eye searched for a good place to shoot while the other searched for recognition incase it was someone he knew. The first thing he noticed was the pale-green tint and distortion on the creature's face. They were the enhanced soldiers he encountered in Midgar. The next thing he noticed was the being's forehead. The Peacemaker sent a single bullet flying straight to that point.

The headshot sent the creature falling to the floor and let a substance far too dark to be blood pour out of the victims head. The shot also sent the rest of the group into alarm. Three more jumped quickly into the door and darted to either side for cover. Two more gave up on the door and just dove through the two front windows of the bar, also retreating for cover. They certainly weren't going to make this easy on Vincent.

One soldier from each flank opened up with a few rounds. Vincent's agility made it easy to dash and dive behind the bar without being harmed. The barrage of bullets tore through the bottles and glasses that Tifa used to make a living. He waited for a brief moment of peace in the gunfire to rise and shoot. He only had time to get one shot off, though. These things were smart. Two emptied their clips. Then the next two would begin their onslaught as the first two reloaded, leaving virtually no break on the rain of lead.

Luckily, Vincent always kept the Death Penalty strapped to his back - a weapon powerful enough to blow straight through Tifa's bar, giving him a means to return fire. No doubt she would be mad, but he could simply sell a few materia to take care of the repairs.

Nanaki rolled over once more, again gaining the advantage in the battle. Two vicious front paws tore mercilessly through the tender flesh of Ash's skin. "Joe, get this fuckin' thing offa me!"

Red's eyes turned upward and caught the ex-Jockey running towards him, hands still tied behind his back. A loud snarl stopped Joe in his tracks. Unfortunately, the momentary distraction was all it took for Ash to regain his composure and propel Red off of him and onto its back.

With Red's attention turned back to the muscular man on the floor, Joe saw his opening. A swift kick to Red's side brought Tifa to her feet. No one double teamed any of _her_ friends! Three repeating kicks to the ribs and a punch to the face were all met without defense. Ms. Lockheart's delicate but deadly fingers wrapped around Joe's bonds. One strong swing sent him flying back to his spot on the wall. "Stay there!"

With the odds now evened up a bit, Nanaki focused solely on Ash. He used the distance between them to his advantage. With a primal roar shot into the wind, Red ran full speed, lifting into the air only a foot or so away from his opponent. Both went crashing to the hard concrete, but Red wisely used Ash's body as a landing pad.

Ash laid helpless on the floor, clutching his ribs. Where he came from, he was one of the most feared fighter to walk. He'd taken down men ten times his size, but such feats did not prepare one to fight an animal. _Who the hell just jumps on you like that? No style whatsoever._

After Red leapt off his victim, Ash thought he might even the score a bit. If that dog/cat/what-the-fuck-ever thing could charge at him, then he could charge right back. With his back turned, Red couldn't react to the blow. As Ash charged on at full speed, it looked rather grim four our feline friend. 

"Red! Look out!" Tifa called out, but it seemed like Red had other plans.

The lion-creature paused to collect his thoughts only for a brief moment. Then suddenly, with his back still turned to his attacker, Red let out a feral cry. Ash stopped in his tracks - not so much from the fear brought on by the loud snarl emitted by his opponent, but more in heed to the burning pain in his chest. It only took seconds for the sensation to burst into tangible flames.

As Ash gasped uncontrollably from the pain, Joe gasped from the shock. _Did that thing just use materia?!_

The sight might have gone unnoticed a year ago, but in recent times, anyone using materia, or even so much as _owning_ it was a sight unseen. Since the fall of Shinra, every city in the world came to an agreement to halt all use of Mako for energy needs. Despite the vigor that Reeve and Barret had worked together in order to find an effecient way to power the world through coal, no efforts were met with success. Thus, human society's power source still lied in the power of Mako - only instead of sucking it mercilessly from the earth, it was used from the materia.

Recovering from the attack, Ash scrambled back to his feet. His partner was so far away, well out of helps range. "Judith! Let's get the hell out of here!"

If Judith could hear her partners frantic cry, she didn't act on it. She was too busy worrying about not dying. This two and a half on one battle (Reno only counted as half, due to the profuse amount of blood that sputtered from his arm with every blow he either dealt or received) wasn't looking too good for her. 

Whenever she would dash to avoid the downward swipe of the Ultima Weapon, she was welcomed by the blunt end of the Venus Gospel. The arms of her black, skin tight shirt now sported bad tears and slashes courtesy of Cloud Strife and Cid Highwind (not to mention the huge burn hole on her back from Reno Keenan).

But, despite the odds, Judith made sure to capitalize on every opportunity. Each time Reno would return to the fold, she'd be sure to remind him of his still bleeding gunshot wound. She also was sure to teach the two boys relying on their big, sharp weapons that unarmed martial combat was a dangerous things. A few broken bones were sure to tell these two not to under estimate her.

A glimmer to her left alerted her to the lance flying towards her face. A smooth side step followed by a fist to the jaw sent Cid reeling, only to have Cloud dive in for the kill, lunging his massive sword straight towards her midsection. Judith almost got away unscathed.

The blood now trickling down her side would've tickled her if her senses weren't already overridden by pain. The large gash might not have been fatal, but it sure as hell hurt.

"Where da HELL is all dat ammo comin' from!?" To put it lightly, Barret was a bit flustered. He could not for the life of him figure out how three soldiers could be firing for so long and still have bullets left to shoot. 

In the past 15 minutes of exchanging gunfire, not a single SOLDIER had fallen. They were by no means skilled, or even smart - choosing not to hide behind anything didn't give much hope for their mental abilities. Their advantage was being well stocked, never giving the target of their aggression a chance to so much as look at them.

Then, a saving grace rang through the air. A single gun shot came from Barret's left. No SOLDIERs fell. Reno smiled at himself as he lay helplessly on the floor, too weak to stand. No SOLDIERs were even hit, but they were certainly distracted. _Mission accomplished..._

Barret had never taken kindly to Reno, or any Turk, but he wasn't so thick headed to miss the message. The second's delay in the gunfire was all he needed. The Missing Score fired with such speed that the three bodies that had once been men didn't even have time to turn and look at the man who brought about their demise. Barret didn't even bother to aim. Just open up and mow them down.

After catching his breath, the AVALANCHE founder stopped to give a questioning look to the Turk lying in his own blood. Reno, despite his condition, was still quick to speak. "Adding a crippled Turk to the situation is always a good thing. Now, you wanna stop gawking at me for a second and help me up?"

She watched from overhead as the fight ensued. _Pitiful. How could he be so stupid? How can he still be so foolishly arrogant? Two poorly trained mercenaries and a few ex-SOLDIER Third Class sent to take on 6 AVALANCHE members and a Turk. One of these oafs is even afraid of materia! Did he honestly expect success? Fool!_

Watching the travesty below her boiled her blood to the point of action. Almost floating, the white-clad figure gracefully and seemingly magically descended from her viewing spot atop a nearby roof. All AVALANCHE eyes were glued to her as she landed a few feet in front of Joe's position away from the fray. 

6 helplessly stunned bodies froze as she strode easily through the street to stand next to Judith. The mysterious woman produced a long katana that had been hiding in the folds of her white cloak. "Please, try not to forget your weapons at home next time."

A sadistic grin stretched across Judith's face as her hands wrapped around the familiar handle of her favorite blade. _Now to even the odds..._

Cloud knew what was coming, but couldn't bring himself to react. _Was that...?_

Blood. Pain. Torn flesh. Agony. Darkness. Loss of breath. These were the words that Cloud's mind produced instead of the name we was looking for. The were the words put into Cloud's mind by Judith's katana as it sliced through the tender skin on his face. A guttural, terrifying cry of agony came from the man many thought unaffected by pain. 

Cid's agape mouth quickly snapped closed when his friend's pained voice touched his ears. Springing into action, Cid sent his lance full speed heading straight for the throat of the perpetrator of his ally's pain. It didn't matter the consequences, no one hurt his friends. He was going to finish off what Cloud had started. He expected blood. Her blood.

He got blood, but it wasn't hers. Twisting to the left, Judith spun with her blade out and ready to slice whatever got in her way in half. She tilted her aim downwards, striking the pilots lower thigh, sending him to the ground in a heap of pain.

"Shit!" Cid's expectedly long string of curses were cut short by a quick blow glancing across his face. Judith wasted no time in making her escape. She was met with little opposition - only a few shots haphazardly fired from Barret's arm dared to try to stop her. Everyone else simply watched her follow the ghostly white women back to where Joe and Ash now stood.

"Do take good care of Vincent, dear." Tifa was hit by a wave of confusion and frustration. How dare this white clad women speak of her poor friend!?

Despite the amount of noise being thrown at him from the hail of gunfire, the incessant pounding on the door behind him was about to drive Vincent Valentine mad. Somehow Yuffie had found a surge of strength in her weak legs to carry her to the door. From there, she began to bang furiously and yell to her protector to let her out. For an odd reason, even without the ability to stand up straight for more than a moment, she though she could still be a help in the battle.

Down below, in the main area of the bar, three greenish-grey corpses littered the ground below. The original intruder laid in a pool of it's own black, tar-like blood. It had only a single bullet hole in it's body. The others contained many various hole's compliment's of the ex-Turk, but all three shared common gun shot wounds between the eyes. After the first half hour to forty five minutes of fighting, Vincent learned shots of such a nature were the only way these _things_ would die, though he hadn't quite put together _why._

A quick glance around the bar would easily tell you that the living beings involved in the showdown were having a much easier time than their battle grounds. Tables were riddle with holes and cracked in half. Chairs were completely obliterated into nothing more than the remains of dead trees. The once magnificent wall that held many types of exotic, expensive liquor looked like the backdrop of a firing range. The walls still held a roof over their heads, but they certainly weren't a pretty sight (and no longer protected the inside from outer winds, either).

Vincent knew he had to finish this quickly. It didn't take Turk training to figure that another half hour of this would send the ceiling on a freefall with sights set on his head. He knew their weakness now and if anyone could pull it off, it was him. If only these goddamned things would give him a chance to shoot back!

Yuffie barely moved her head in time to dodge a bullet that tore through the wall she rested on. _Gawd! Why did Vinnie have to lock me in here!? If the great Yuffie Kisaragi was out there, this thing would've been over HOURS ago!_

Yuffie slumped to the floor in defeat. She knew she wasn't getting out. The ex-Turk was too smart for his (or her) own good. That smart bastard had left the key hanging halfway out of the lock so she couldn't turn the deadbolt from the inside. _Why does Tifa have deadbolts on these doors anyway? Paranoid freak._

Her eyes scanned the room for a means to break out, or at least a means to occupy her time. Listening to gunfire could only entertain a girl for so long. As she scanned the walls for nothing in particular, she found an odd, out of place dot. As she scooted her way across the floor, Yuffie used her great mental abilities to reason that it was no dot, but rather a hole caused by the bullet that nearly made her a very unhappy camper moments earlier.

Luckily for her, the hole lead to the next room over in the inn section of Tifa's Tranquility. Why is that lucky? Because none other than Cait Sith, the poor electronic cat left behind by Cloud, rested on the other side. "Hey Cait!"

The voice activated feline quickly shot into life and onto the top of his Mog's head. He looked around questioningly and a bit suspiciously until he noticed a small gray eye sticking through a hole in the wall. "Good morning, Yuffie!"

_Good morning? GOOD MORNING?? We're under attack and this thing's been SLEEPING!?_ "What do you mean good morning? You slept through all this ruckus?"

Cait's small head hung low as he shook it. He hated explaining how he worked to others. It just seemed so... weird. "No, Yuffs. I'm a Robo-Kittie, remember? Cid left me on 'stand-by', which means I shut down to conserve power until someone says my name."

Yuffie let out a chuckle at Cait's use of the term "Robo-Kittie" before turning to the matters at hand. "Cait, do you think you can get me out of here? I think Vinnie left the key in the door. All you gotta do is unlock the door."

"Vincent locked you in? What's going on?"

"Just do it. You'll see for yourself once you go outside."

Yuffie watched as Mog hopped towards the door with Cait on board. A small fit of giggles touched Yuffie as she heard Cait's surprised screech from the hallway. After a few moments of frightened fumbling, Cait burst through the now unlocked door to Yuffie's room. She was waiting for him, standing as straight as she could with the massive Conformer clutched in her right hand.

"Let's go, Yuffie. Vincent's in trouble!"

Yuffie's eyes went wide with a mixture of fear and worry. _Damn that Vincent Valentine! He had to be all macho and now he's going to get himself killed!_

As they exited the room into the upstairs hallway, Cait and Yuffie stared with horror at the trail of blood that lead to where Vincent now stood, back pressed against the wall bordering the stairwell. Crimson blood stained the wall where a bullet hole stood. The bullet that had almost killed Yuffie, the bullet that inadvertently lead to her release from her nicely accommodated prison, had been the bullet that tore through Vincent's slender body and left such a vast amount of blood in its wake.

A sudden wave of desire swept over Yuffie. A desire to run, run to his side and defend him. She wanted to throw her Conformer right through the heart of whichever one of those things had shot him. She wanted to pull him out of the line of fire. She wanted to help. She wanted to do _anything._ Her body, on the other hand, wanted to shut down and let her fall to the floor. Her body won.

Vincent turned his attention in time to see the falling form of Yuffie Kisaragi. A tinge of worry crept up in his heart, but his features remained impassive. Cait wasn't exactly sure what Vincent was thinking, but decided to reassure him anyway. "Don't worry, Vincent! She'll be fine. Here! Take Mog. Reeve-ey made him bullet proof when I came back to him."

Vincent was shocked. In his travels with that AI cat, he hadn't often witnessed a moment of well strategized planning on Cait Sith's part. But now, the cat was a genius. A bullet proof barrier would certainly even the odds, if not tilt the scales drastically in Vincent's favor.

Mog obediently hopped over to Vincent's side and was swept up by the ex-Turk. Vincent's superior strength made it entirely too easy to simply carry around the big robot as some sort of shield. Ignoring Cait's frantic cries, Vincent tossed the robotic moggle down the stairs to the ground below, landing about five feet away from the bottom stair. Once it was firmly situated on the floor, Vincent took his turn at the free fall.

As he rolled across the ground towards his big toy shelter, a well aimed shot from Vincent's Peacemaker found root in the firing arm of a nearby creature. It certainly didn't seem to harm the being too greatly, but the shock of the blast was enough to knock it's weapon from its hand. Watching from his safe spot, Vincent waited for the human experiment to bend and retrieve it's gun. Before a single gray finger could touch its target, A bullet tore through the air and then was stopped abruptly by a forehead. Four down, two to go.

Yuffie stumbled to her feet as she regained control of her body. Shaking the dizziness from her head and tuning out the warning Cait was issuing her, she hobbled over to the banister and stole a look down at Vincent. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but she was sure he was still weakened from the blood loss. Convinced she could help him, she made her way to the stairs. _Only two of those things are left. Me and Vin can take them out without breaking a sweat._

But, before she was even given the option to break a sweat, both remaining attackers turned their startled eyes to her. She froze in absolute fear. The strange glowing in their eyes wouldn't permit her feet to move. "Oh god..."

A single gunshot was heard. The enhanced vision of Vincent Valentine let him see the bullet blast out of the rifle's barrel. It was heading straight for Yuffie, and so was he. The world slowed down as he raced. He could beat it. He _had_ to beat it.

Then, as suddenly as the blast had caused the world to slow, it snapped back into full speed. Vincent crashed straight into Yuffie's unsuspecting body. Yuffie crashed down onto the hard wood of the stairs. The bullet crashed and buried itself deep into Vincent's unprotected back.

"Hey, you ugly meanies! No one hurts my friends!!!" If fur didn't cover its artificial skin, Cait would've been bright red with fury. For all he knew, both Vincent and Yuffie had just died. Such an offense would not go unanswered. A quick dive from the second floor sent Cait's agile body straight onto the back of his Mog.

"You feeling lucky, punks!?" Cait always managed to come up with something terribly cheesy to say before he threw what he liked to call "the Dice of Death."

The shrill cries from the small cat brought Vincent's mind out of the world of pain and back into the real world that was still engulfed by battle. The creatures exchanged confused looks as Cait let his dice fly. The momentary distraction was all it took. The two final intruders hit the ground before the two shotgun shells did. Each had identical head wounds.

Now that Vincent was off of her, Yuffie rose to her feet. She looked around the room, astonished by the carnage that had taken place while she was locked in her room. Then, the realization came. "Vincent. You just saved my life..."

An icy, emotionless stare was the only response she recieved. "Vinnie, you saved me. I could've just died. And - -"

"That's right, Yuffie! You could've just died. Cait and I both could've just died. You chose not listen to simple instructions and you endangered your own life along with the lives of two others." Yuffie didn't know which was scarier, the fiercely angry tone in which Vincent spoke to her or what she saw in his eyes. 

His red irises had always emitted a dull glow that was strangely devoid of emotion, but now the were brighter than the moon that had begun to creep up in the sky. This light was so bright Yuffie could swear she was being burnt by it. And where a peaceful lack of emotion once existed, now a fiery anger lived.

Not wishing to be the subject of his rage any longer, Yuffie took off. Back up the stairs and back into her room. The door slammed, the deadbolt locked. Now she was safe. As long as she didn't have to look into those eyes, she was safe.

Night had completely taken control of the world by the time Cloud and co. returned to Kalm. Anger had completely taken control of Tifa by the time she could see the front of he precious Tranquility. Nausea had completely taken control of everyone by the time they could see the bloody mess inside the bar.

Six dead bodies lay piled together in the far corner. Their greenish-gray skin was so riddled with holes that it barely covered their bodies. A black liquid that could be presumed to be the creatures' blood seeped out of every hole and covered much of the rest of the bar. But, not to be outdone, natural red blood covered a large portion of the floor as well. Vincent Valentine was the artist who claimed ownership to such a deadly paint.

Bullet holes where everywhere. No one's eye could escape their destruction. The bar was laid to waste - chair and tables alike had been destroyed. No one could quite figure out how the walls hadn't caved in yet.

Everyone wanted an explanation, but Tifa above of all. This was her livelihood. _WAS _her livelihood. Now it was just a bunch of rubble. Her eyes quite shot an accusing glare at Vincent Valentine, the stoic man who sat perched atop what seemed to be the only surviving barstool.

"What the hell??"

[1] "state of dreaming" - a not-so-obvious plug for my friend's website, "State of Dreaming." check it out at: 

A/N: That one was a doozy. Hopefully the length will make up for how long it took me to post it. Poor Tifa. Anyway, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE review. Pretty please. Oh, and did you who the "mysterious woman in white" is yet? It shouldn't be too much of a surprise.


	21. Discoveries

A/N: Be prepared – the plot thickens. Thanks for the reviews. To RenoS – one guess was right, the other one wasn't. And, to Windwalker – there is a conclusion to this book on the horizon, but not the story as a whole. But, fear not, some answers are on the way in this chapter and the next few as well.

A/N2: Just to make things less confusing, when Yuffie is eavesdropping later on in the chapter, the words in _italics_ are what she's hearing, not any sort of flashback or inner thoughts.

****

Chapter 17: Discoveries

"What the hell?!?" The anger fueling Tifa's question didn't phase Vincent. Far too much had happened today for him to care about her bar. The bullet that his skin had begun to grow over didn't do anything to sweeten his mood.

No matter how bad a day Valentine had, Tifa was positive hers had been worse. She asked a question and she wanted an answer. She was in no mood for the silent game. "Don't just sit there like an idiot! I'm talking to _you,_ Vincent Valentine! What the hell did you do to my bar!?"

Cloud's hand found its way to her shoulder with hopes of easing her rage. "Calm down, Tifa…"

"Cloud Strife, don't you tell me to calm down! I've been getting beaten up all day and I come home to find my home _trashed_! And he doesn't even have the decency to acknowledge my existence? He can just sit there!?"

"We were attacked." The simple, barely audible utterance from Vincent was enough to catch everyone off guard and silence Tifa. "Those things that attacked us in Midgar came here and broke in. I apologize."

Vincent and Tifa both seemed to remember their manners at the same time. The red tint of shame played on Tifa's cheeks. "Oh…"

Before Tifa could dig herself into an even deeper hole, Cloud spoke up, worry in his voice. "Is everything all right? What about Yuffie? Is Yuffie Ok?"

Vincent didn't speak. He only set his sights on Yuffie's closed door. Everyone else got the message.

"Umm, I'll go check on her…" Tifa was anxious to leave the awkwardness that hung in the air between her and Vincent. Checking on Yuffie would be there perfect excuse. 

"Cloud, my I have a word with you?"

A strange feeling crawled up Cloud's spine. Vincent wanted to speak to him? Vincent never wanted to speak with _anyone_. He took it as a bad omen as he walked solemnly over to the remains of the bar, where Vincent sat. "What is it?"

"Those.. things that attacked us are the same that the Turks and I encountered in Midgar. These are a farther along version. They can only be killed by strikes to a vital organs… Someone has infused them with Mako."

"But, you and I both had make and Jenova injections. We're still 'normal.'"

Vincent sighed. He hated giving these little speeches. Why could people just understand? "These are much farther along than us. It seems they were given something to quicken the development of the Mako. It has begun to crystalize…" Vincent's voice began to trail off as his human hand began to rub something between its index finger and thumb. It was thick, black, and sticky. It was something akin to tar. It was the blood that ran through the creatures in question.

Cloud's eyes grew with the realization. "You mean that's… their _blood_?!"

Vincent nodded and remained in contemplative silence for a few moments. Yes, this was their blood. The thought was even almost too gruesome for Vincent Valentine, the human-demon, to fathom. This strange sticky substance between his finger tips had once been the red blood cells of a human being.

He brought himself out of his thoughts to finish his explanation. "It is nearly impossible for them to bleed to death. The only blow that will kill them is one to either their brain or their heart." _If they still have hearts…_

The soft, white sheets covered the small girl's body protectively. Her breathing was slow and even, the signs of sleep. Tifa let out a satisfied sigh. Sure, she wouldn't be able to ask her what happened, but at least she knew she was all right.

She had been so focused on examining Yuffie for the past few minutes that Tifa hadn't even noticed Cait's hopping figure on the other side of the room. "Cait?"

"Hiya, Tifa!" Cait didn't care about keeping its voice down. It had been in here alone with Yuffie's sleeping body that it was ecstatic about any human contact.

Tifa quickly laid a finger across her closed lips hoping to lower her feline friend's voice. Her eyes examined the poor girl further until she noticed the wide streak of dried up tears on her cheek and a large wet spot on her pillow. "What happened to Yuffie?"

The question quickly prompted Cait to put its hands on its hips in mock anger. "That meanie Vincent Valentine yelled at her!"

"Vincent Valentine! Can I have a word with you?"

Cloud shifted uncomfortably next to his childhood friend. From the tone in her voice, a seat next to Vincent might be a dangerous place to be. That's his cue to depart. "Umm, I'll be sitting… over there now…"

No one heard Cloud's comment. Everyone's attentions and eyes belonged to Tifa Lockheart. Well, almost everyone. Vincent remained as aloof and indifferent as ever. His eyes stayed on the broken window he had been eyeing from across the room as his fingers still played absent mindedly with his victims' blood.

"Don't just sit there. What did you do to her!?"

Another bout of silence greeted her. Not just any silence, _his_ silence. That cold, unresponsive, uncaring, arrogant silence that ate away at Tifa's already fragile patience and egged her to burst. Who was she to refuse?

"Goddamn it, Vincent! If you hurt her I'll kill you myself!" Although anger ruled her vocal chords, Tifa's eyes were taken over by sadness. Tears began to from in her almond eyes. 

Yuffie was like a little sister to her. During the Meteor Crisis they would stay up to all hours of the night talking about all the things girls should talk about. Yuffie was the female childhood friend that Tifa never had. And, to a point, the young, careless, often clumsy ninja was like the daughter Tifa wished she had – always needing to be taken care of.

And Vincent. He was supposed to be the trust worthy one. Tifa always thought of him as the one who would never betray them and never hurt any of them. What the hell did that bastard do?!

Vincent took a moment, but eventually responded. His eyes, as cold and unemotional as ever, fell upon Tifa's. He seemed so unflustered, as if Tifa hadn't even raised her voice. "I reprimanded her for her actions."

"You reprimanded her for her actions?? What the hell could she have done that caused you to make her cry her eyes out like she's been doing?"

"She nearly got herself and Cait killed."

"No! She nearly got _you_ killed, you selfish bastard!"

This comment enraged Vincent quite a bit. He never took kindly to those who made assumptions about his actions – especially incorrect assumptions. But, nonetheless, his exterior remained calm and devoid of all emotion. He slowly stood and head for what was left of the door.

Tifa was probably yelling something at him, but he wasn't listening It wasn't until he reached the door that Reno's voice cut into his mind. There was no anger, no concern, only neutral curiosity. "Where ya goin'?"

_Where _am_ I going?_ The thought hadn't really crossed his mind. _It doesn't matter. I haven't known where I was going for over 30 years…_ No, the question did not prompt some great revelation in Vincent's mind, but it did inspire him to leave with some depart words.

He didn't even bother to turn, but he knew those who cared to listen would hear. "Yes, I reprimanded Yuffie. Perhaps I was wrong, but for the past two years the rest of you have been calling her a brat and a pest. I got angry for her putting two lives other than her own at risk, and I am at fault. You get angry for her taking your materia, and you are justified."

"That was a real shitty thing you said, back there."

Two sets of eyes went wide with fear as they stared at the speaking man. The fourth figure in the small space didn't respond to the statement. She could care less what he though. 

Soon, the electronic humming of the rising elevator took control of the air surrounding them again. _Figures… bitch._

He didn't honestly expect a response. He usually didn't get one when he talked to her, unless they were planning some sort of operation together, which was a rarity. But the silence was eating away at him. The annoying drone of the elevator combined with the subject at hand ate away at his reserve. No, he wouldn't just let this go, not when she brought a good friend into it.

"I _said_, that was a really shitty thing you said back there. Don't talk about Valentine like that."

"Joe, shut the fuck up already!" Joe's comment stirred Ash, who had remained silent throughout their returning trip. It didn't matter to Joe. He never thought too highly of the young fighter anyway.

"And what do you presume to know about Vincent?" The smooth voice was devoid of agitation. It was steady and calm, like it always was. But Joe got satisfaction from it nonetheless. Her voice didn't say it, but he knew he had gotten under her skin. He must've gotten to her if he even managed to get her to speak.

"I know a fuck of a lot more about him than you. I worked alongside that man for 4 years of my life. He was like a brother to me. There's very little I _don't_ know about him."

"I'm sure there is quite a bit about Vincent's past you are unaware of."

"Like what!? You think I don't know about that shit that - -"

"Joe." A soft, pleasant voice touched his ears at the same moment the tender skin of a hand touched his arm. "Let it go."

A quiet sigh escaped Joe's lips. "Fine." _I'll let it go. For you, Judith, I'll let it go…_

"Yuffie, whatcha doin'?"

"Shhhh."

"Whatcha doin'??"

"Shut up, Cait!"

"You're gonna get in trouble again."

"I won't if you keep your voice down!"

"You're the one that's yelling!"

_I give up._ Usually Yuffie found Cait's antics to be rather amusing, but right now she was on a mission. Needless to say, the yelling Tifa had done earlier in the bar had woken the girl from her slumber. Now, with an ear pressed against the door, she was determined to find out what was going on.

_"Just who the hell does he think he is, accusing us like that?"_

"Ya know, he did have a point. I always hear you punks callin' her that."

"Stay outta this, Reno!"

"Reno's right… we do say some unkind things to her."

"But we don' go off on 'er like dat!"

"Barret's correct. Yuffie is a strong girl. He must've said some pretty hurtful things to make her cry like you said she was."

"Yea, but that old bastard's a scary fuck. I might've cried if he raise his fuckin' voice ta me. Jus' lookin' in them eyes'll scare the shit outta ya!"

"If dat freak put a finger on da pest, so help me I'ma stick my gunarm where da sun don' shine an' pull da trigga!"

Yuffie solemnly walked back to her bed. Her aura oozed a mixture of sorrow and regret. Cait was quick to pick up on his usually up-beat companion's mood. He had a hunch it wasn't just a side effect of her illness..

"What's wrong, Yuffie-kins?" Cait knew the power of shallow comedy, especially with Yuffie. She would always go into a fit of giggles when he used "silly" words. This time, he was lucky enough to get the half-hearted smile that played on her lips.

"I think I got Vinnie in trouble, Cait. Barret's talking about killing him, and not in a very pleasant way!" Yuffie's voice managed to turn into a joking whine by the end of her statement. How could she stay upset when she just knew Cait was sitting behind her making faces?

The half-hearted smiled turned genuine for a few moments. I strange feeling crept up within her that told her this would be one of the few times for smiling she would have. She didn't quite understand the feeling, but didn't pursue an answer. She figured she wouldn't understand it anyway. _Probably just the lifestream talking to me, or some other touchy crap like that…_

"What do you mean you didn't kill them!?!?"

"It was a 7 on 3 battle! Plus Joe was in chains for the whole thing! How the hell did you expect us to off them?"

"Was Valentine there?"

"No, he obviously wasn't. We all came back alive, didn't we?"

"Now, Joe. I would expect more optimism from one of the legendary, original Turks."

"Valentine's an original Turk. I'm just a Chocobo Jockey."

"Either way, do they know where we are?"

"No, sir. They still think we're based in Junon."

"And do they know about - -"

"Of course they don't, you _fool_! They fought. No matter how skilled they may be, they cannot fight and interrogate at the same time."

"Look, everyone calm down. I know we've all had a rough day, but that's not an excuse to start describing how we will bring about an end to our own teammates!" Cloud had remained relatively silent throughout AVALANCHE's discussion about Vincent. He only spoke up every so often to serve as the local voice of reason. Now it was time to play leader again.

"It's obviously not safe here. When whoever sent those things after us realizes that their pawns didn't get the job done, I'm sure they'll send more. With the bar in this condition, Yuffie still recovering, and Reno, Cid and I all tending to wounds, another attack might not be fended off so easily."

Reno, after putting the finishing touches on the bandage he had made for himself, was quick to throw his two cents in. "Don't even think about heading to Midgar. I'm sure Rude and 'Lena have their hands full with Reeve missing and me gone. There's no way in hell I'm gonna draw the fire of some madman towards them."

"Shit goes fo' Corel too." Barret stood up to walk up to the bar. He couldn't stand sitting still when so much was going on. "Dat town still ain't offa its feet yet. I had ta make at least ten speeches b'fo' dey lemme leave ta come 'n' help you all."

Tifa was next to put in her ideas. After all, they were looking for a replacement for _her_ home, shouldn't she have a say? "Plus Corel's on the western continent. It's too far from Junon to be stationed at. Anything across the ocean is out of the question for right now."

A silence stretched over them. With only places in this continent available, there weren't many options. Kalm, obviously, was a definite no. Midgar, as deemed by Reno (and not unreasonably), was a no. Junon was a big no, being what seemed to be the heart of the enemy. 

Suddenly, Tifa's eyes lit up. "I know! We'll go to the Chocobo Ranch!"

Weary glances were exchanged around the room. The Chocobo Ranch? The _Chocobo Ranch_ was supposed to be the new AVALANCHE Headquarters? Tifa's facial features took a downward turn when she realized no one seemed to share her excitement. That was, until Reno spoke up again.

"Come to think of it, the girl's got a point. After Shinra went belly up, most of the people 'round here lost their jobs. No money means no one owning any of those bird-brains. The poor guy had to move off and find work if he wanted to feed those two kids. No one wanted a run down Chocobo Ranch, so the place has just been kinda abandoned for the past year or so."

Cloud paced about, weighing their options. It didn't take long for him to come to a decision, because it seemed like they really only had one to pick from. "Then it's settled. We're leaving tonight. Everyone get your stuff ready. The Highwind needs to be on the ground and stored away before morning. I don't want to run the risk of anyone seeing us on the move."

It still amazed Cloud how after all this time, they still took orders from him so obediently. He sighed with satisfaction. It felt so good to be in action again – to be in action again with all his old comrades. Even Reno seemed to be coming along rather well

Most had went their separate ways to pack up the little they had brought with them, save Cloud, Tifa and Cid. They all still sat in deep contemplation. A good while passed by silently, each lost within their owns thoughts, until Tifa disturbed the air. "I'll go make sure Yuffie's all right and help her pack. Someone really should stay behind just in case Vincent decides to come back."

"I'll wait for Vince." Cid jumped at the opportunity to stay behind a bit too quickly. Cloud shot him a questioning glance.

"You mean you'll stay behind while we take the Highwind? There's no way all of us will make it to the Ranch by morning if we walk."

Cid let out a hearty laugh. "With my crew, I'd even trust a klutz like you with my baby. I trained those boys myself. You couldn't even scratch that thing, let alone crash it, with them on board!"

"Still get air sick?"

"I guess some things never change, huh?" The corners of Yuffie's mouth turned up into a small smile as she looked into Tifa's big, warm, burgundy eyes. They had barely taken off and her stomach was already in her feet.

A smile played on the older woman's lips as well. _Sometimes, I thank the gods that some things ever change._ Like Cloud, Tifa also found it somewhat comforting to be on the move again with their old friends, especially Yuffie. The two had grown so close over the year of the Meteor Crisis that it hurt to think about how little they had talked over the past year.

"You know, they say talking is good for you in situations like these. Takes your mind off the discomfort."

Yuffie's eyes wandered to the night sky. Although the fast moving, nauseating scene of the world moving by at such a rapid pace was hard to avoid out there on the upper deck of Cid's pride and joy, the wind did much to calm Yuffie's nerves.

_Talking is good, huh? Then where do I begin…_ The young ninja had so much to tell the barmaid that she looked up to so much. She could go on for hours about how much Wutai has changed since she was dropped off there a year ago. She could talk about her father's illness. Or how she had gone "legit" by quitting her thieving ways and becoming a bounty hunter of sorts (only she hunted items, not people). Or, she could delve into more pressing and recent matters.

"Don't be mad at Vincent."

The our-of-the-blue statement might've knocked Tifa off of her feet if she wasn't already seated on the hardwood of the Highwind's deck. Had Yuffie heard her yelling? "Why would I be mad at Vincent?" Tifa's voice faltered. She knew Yuffie would be able to see through her if the girl had heard some of the words she had thrown at the ex-Turk.

"The bar, but that wasn't his fault. Those creepy zombie guys had machine guns and completely tore the place apart. Vincent barely even got a chance to fire back." Yuffie's voice trailed off as she worked up the courage to speak of more personal matters. From what she heard, Tifa wasn't mad at Vincent because of the Tranquility.

"And don't be mad at him for me. He didn't hurt me or anything. He saved my life. And I was a brat to him. There's a bullet in his back to show for it."

"What??" Tifa almost stood up just for the affect of being knocked down by Yuffie's words. Though she knew the still somewhat immature child wouldn't quite have enough of a grasp on language to say something like a "bullet in his back" in a poetic sense, Tifa still hoped.

"He got shot protecting me. I think he got shot a few more times before that, but the bullets came out. I'm pretty sure that one stayed in him, though. Otherwise it would've hit me too."

And, of course, Yuffie had to dash out her poor hopes. "You mean the bullet's still in there?" _Vincent's walking around god-knows where without the aid of a friend, all while there's a bullet lodged in his back!?!?_

Tifa was wise to keep her exclamations to herself. Yuffie felt bad enough about the whole deal, she didn't need to think that she's the reason Vincent is out and in danger. "Tifa, do you think he's mad at me?"

A strangled howl crashed through the surrounding air. The sound, born out of the pits of hell, seemed to come from the darkness itself - not from the darkness of night, but from something much darker. The outline of wings and flailing limbs couldn't be seen, but more sense by anyone around it. No eyes could perceive the blackness that covered the beast, but it could be felt.

Then, the deep, beastly growling was replaced by the soft, muffled panting of a human. The man's white skin almost glowed in an eerie contrast to the darkness that embodied the beast that once stood there. Thin, pale eyelids concealed their red, glowing secret from the prying eyes of an overly curious world.

A sigh of relief escaped Vincent Valentine. Changing from Chaos was always painful, but it was a welcomed pain. The physical anguish was almost pleasurable when compared with the inner turmoil he had when he lost control of his body to the demon.

He had barely made it out of Kalm before the transformation took place. His battle with the genetically altered soldiers had taxed him both physically and mentally. He was not prepared to cope with Tifa's verbal assault. He didn't know if he had killed as the demon, but over the past two years, he had come to accept the fact that he would never know what he did while Chaos was let loose.

When he regained his senses, Vincent realized just how close he was to what was left of Tifa's Tranquility. It seemed like it took less than a minute for his foot to fall on the first step leading to the front door. Quickly and quietly, he made his entrance to find the building devoid of nearly all of its former occupants. Now, only Cid remained.

As the pilot's eyes locked with Vincent's, Cid sensed something he didn't want to know about. Maybe if he ignored it, it would go away. "Hey, Vince. Cloud an' the others thought it'd be for the best if we headed outta here and went ta - - "

Vincent's metal talons quickly and nimbly wrapped around Cid's neck. The power behind the ebony-hared man's thrust nearly put the pilot through the remains of the closest wall.

While Cid's lungs gasped for air and his hands rubbed his reddening throat, Vincent wasted no time in formalities. Like always, he cut to the chase. "Why are you feeding them information?"

It was a while before Cid managed to muster up enough oxygen to reply. "What.. are you.. talk…ing a… bout…?"

"You're telling them every move we make. Why?"

Cid caught that glimmer in Vincent's eyes again. He could ignore it this time. He managed to keep his life after making that mistake once, he doubted he'd be that lucky again, especially since he noticed Vincent had drawn his Quicksilver. "Lissen… I got reasons. If you'd jus' lissen ta me, I'll tell you…"

A heavy silence stretched between the two as Vincent took his time before acting. Not much trust existed in him for the man lying on the floor in front of him. He hoped he wouldn't regret what he was doing.

A gloved, human hand came down within Cid's reach. It was a strange gesture of kindness from the man who had just almost killed him. Strange indeed, but a gesture Cid wasn't about to pass up.

Once seated again on the only still usable barstool, Cid wasted no time in spilling his guts. "I didn't want to, Vince, you gotta believe. They got my balls in a vice, ya know? I ain't even sure who the hell they are. Ya see, this tough lookin' guy 'n' some girl with a crazy look in 'er eye paid me 'n' Shera a lil' visit not to long ago. They didn't tell me much, and they still don', but they took Shera. They took Shera, Vince! She's gonna have a baby soon. If I wanted 'er 'n' our kid ta live, I hadta do what they told me!"

"You're shouting."

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, I had it all planned out. I's jus' gonna give 'em enough to keep their filthy mits offa Shera, then I was gonna take what I knew 'n' give it ta Cloud. I swear, Vince. But then that Spikey-headed jerk had to go off 'n' capture Joe. That little punk woulda told them everything if I ratted them out. C'mon, Vince, You believe me, right?"

Another stiff silence fell, mostly due to Vincent's reluctance to speak. This was not a matter for him. He was the executioner, but never the judge or the jury. "Tell it to Cloud."

A/N: Another chapter that I have to cut off due to length. The next one should be short. Just gonna explain a few more things. Then, if all goes according to plan, a few interludes for the hell of it, 2 or 3 more chapters (with heavy action in them) and that should wrap up part one of my little series. Please review. I got lots for the last chapter, let's keep up the trend! Oh, and if anyone has any ideas for what I should title the series, please feel free to throw them in with your reviews. Times of Separation is just this portion's name, not the name of the whole thing (and it's also the name of a great ZAO song – you should check it out). 


	22. Unexpected Discovery

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Hello to my newest reviewer Yami-chan. My first review for the last chapter were from a new person. That makes me smile.

**Chapter 18: Unexpected Turn**

_Thank God we're here..._ For the past hour or so, Cid Highwind had been traveling with Vincent en route to what he had already dubbed the AVALANCHE Ranch. It wasn't so much that Cid didn't like Vincent's company, but he couldn't stand those eyes. Those red, glowing eyes never left Cid - never taking their suspicious glare off of him.

Cid shuddered at the thought as he reached to open the front door of his new, temporary home. Then came a second shudder: his coming confession. He knew Vincent would make sure Cid spilled the beans to Cloud. He also knew Cloud would not take it lightly. And, to top it all off, he knew Cloud would be sure to let everyone else in the group know about his treason.

A sorrowful sigh found its way from Cid's body. _What the hell've I gotten myself into now?..._

Vincent found a bit of peace and quiet in the barn that once was full of chocobos, but now rested devoid of all life. His stayed here a few times as well, if his recollection was right. He retreated to a place a bit detached from human contact after promptly being berated by a worried Tifa for being so late.

Sometimes Vincent couldn't stand the woman. She was always so confrontational and energetic, even in her verbal abuses. She was never afraid to speak her mind and she never hesitated to pull every ounce of politeness out of her manners if need be. She was so different than himself. 

Sometimes, Vincent couldn't help but be amazed by the woman.

Three sat alone around a kitchen table, sipping slowly on cups filled with tea. The group had come to find that Chocobo Bill had built an extension onto his house before moving out. After all, his boys had grown up a bit, of course they'd each want their own room. Cait Sith and Yuffie had long again bounced off to one room, talk incoherently about childish things only they would understand. Barret had grumpily stomped off to one, worrying himself crazy about both Marlene and Correl. Red had followed attempting to ease the man's worries. Vincent had left the main house of the ranch hours ago. No one was exactly positive where Reno was, but he had managed to find a bottle of rum before departing.

So three remained, sitting alone around a kitchen table, sipping slowly on cups filled with tea. Cid leaned back in his chair, observing his companions in silence. Tifa sat to his right, sipping on her cup with worry painted across her face. _Probably tryin' ta think of a way to save her bar..._

Cid's eyes turned from Tifa, falling upon the final person in the trio. Cloud sat to his left, sipping on his cup with deep thought painted across his face. _Probably tryin' ta think of a way outta this mess..._

Final, Cid's mind turned to where his eyes could not reach - to a dangerous claw - to threatening eyes - to the Death Penalty - to Vincent Valentine, a man who would not take kindly to Cid's hesitation to reveal the truth.

Cid loudly cleared his throat of the invisible force keeping him silent. He could remain silent no longer. Once he realized that both Tifa and Cloud had placed their cups back upon the table and turned their gazes to Cid's unnaturally stern face. "Uhh… Tif, can I talk ta Cloud alone for a few minutes?"

His two companions exchanged confused glances. "What's wrong Cid?"

"Yeah, why does Tif have to leave?"

Cid's head was spinning. Sure, he was only asked two questions, but it didn't take much to set a mind already filled with anxiety over the edge. "Ahh, a'right, ya can stay too! I guess it'll at least save me a speech later…"

"Forty-five bottles of beer on the wall - forty-five bottles of beer!"

A not-so-soft tune carried through the air. It's singer was shrouded in darkness. Dark, ominous storm clouds hung overhead blocking out all light the moon would give.

"Take one down, pass the fucker around!"

The blackness of the night was pierced by the green-glowing mako enhanced orbs that hung in the air. Those orbs narrowed as they illuminated something - something liquid, amber, and contained in a bottle.

"Forty-four bottles of beer on the wall."

Then, in the seemingly empty solitude of a barn, those green-glowing orbs met crimson ones of the same nature. The green orbs that were once floating in the darkness came to a sudden halt - pausing to let realization sink in.

"Oh, it's you, Valentine." Reno slowly strode over, rum in hand, to lean against one of the stables. "You know, it might do you well to hang out in a more well lit spot. You can surprise the shit outta somebody."

Vincent regarded the Turk in silence. This was something Reno had expected. He didn't know Vincent well, but from their encounters during the Meteor Crisis, and from his time staying with AVALANCHE now, he gathered Vincent was something of the 'strong and quiet' type. Something similar to Rude.

"Don't talk much, do you Valentine?"

After a long pause, a response came - a response Reno didn't expect to get. "I speak when necessary."

_Just like Rude. The perfect, silent Turk._ Reno thoughts strayed to many different things. He thought of countless questions he could ask Valentine, but figured none would get answered. Questions about his eyes or his claw, or just what in the hell Hojo did to him. Questions about why he hung with this bunch of losers. Questions about the Turks of old, or how he knew Tseng. Then, a set of questions in particular came to the Turk. _No, Valentine would probably never answer._ But his curiosity got the best of him. He had to ask.

"So, what do you know about this Joe guy?" Reno knew Vincent could be a loose cannon at times. He'd witnessed how the ex-Turk had stormed off after his altercation with Tifa. What he didn't know was what would be stepping over the line. He braced himself for the gunshot.

Vincent was taken aback slightly by Reno's query. Joe? Of all the things a current Turk could ask an original, he asked about Joe? _They obviously stopped training them in interrogation skills._ "What knowledge do I have that would be important to the task at hand? Or what do I know that might ease your personal curiosity?"

"Look, I got no clue what the hell you just said. If you're gonna talk, spill the beans. If not, tell me 'n I'll shuddup." Perhaps the interrogation skills Vincent had called into question were failing due to the alcohol already affecting Reno's system.

If Vincent Valentine were to show emotion, he might've let a sigh of frustration go, or perhaps a smile of amusement would have tugged on his lips, but no such thing happened. He simply began to speak evenly and without emotion.

"I believe the only information I could tell you on him that might be of interest to you is that his name is Joseph Briet."

The reaction Vincent received was the one he expected. Reno found himself short of breath. The combination of shock and alcohol broke him down to a man staring wide eyed at Vincent as if he were the Devil himself. After a few moments of incoherent babble, usable words finally came to Reno's lips.

"Di- did you just say...Joseph Br - Briet?" The silent nod Vincent gave the man was only noticeable due to the movement in his glowing eyes.

Reno was reeling. Uncontrolled thoughts were pummeling him from all angles. How did he not notice before. The physical similarities. That same look in Joe's eyes that _he_ always had. The fact that Joe had once been a Turk. Joe may not have had the Wutanese features, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. After all, it _was _a pretty odd last name for someone from Wutai.

Too many questions had begun to surface in Reno's mind - questions he didn't have answers to. He crossed his fingers in hopes that Valentine was in a talkative mood. After composing himself as best he could, Reno spoke. His voice was clear and professional - sobered from the shock. "Does Joseph Briet have any relation to Tseng Briet?"

A moment of silence passed between them. Reno didn't know Vincent enough to wager a guess as to whether it was for dramatic effect or if the question somehow troubled him. "Joe was Tseng's father."

"You've been what!?!?" Tifa quickly rose to her feet. She didn't care if she caught the attention of the others. In fact, she hoped she did. She wanted each and every one of them to storm into the room in time to hear of Cid's treachery. She wanted everyone to know.

"Whoa, Tif! I can explain!"

_Explain? He can EXPLAIN!?!? He's probably the reason my bar is in shambles and he has an explanation!?_ Tifa was in no mood to talk. If Cid had anything to explain, she give him something nice and hard to explain it to!

Cid fell hard on his back and out of his chair from the blow. Tifa certainly wasn't taking this the way he had thought. If anything, she's supposed to be the level headed one. 

"Tifa, stop it!" Cid thank his lucky stars for Cloud's interference. Knowing she would never strike him, Cloud positioned himself between the fuming Tifa and the downed Cid. "Let him talk!"

"Let him talk!? He could've been the death of all of us! He's the reason we moved into this abandoned hell hole! I will _not_ let him talk!"

This time, Cid stood up for himself. Now Tifa was yelling at Cloud because of him. The last thing he wanted to do was cause any additional trouble. "Tifa, they've got Shera..." Cid's voice trailed off, pained by his own words.

Tifa's eyes went wide and mouth fell open. In her short visits with Cid's former assistant, Tifa had grown to feel something akin to the kind of love that passes between a mother and a daughter. Over the past year, whenever the burden of restarting her life became too much, Tifa had grown a habit of calling up Shera for some consolation.

Cid morosely rose to his feet, fighting back the tears. He had lived this past month keeping himself occupied, never letting the truth catch up to him. But now, when he had to tell others, the truth didn't hesitate to deal him a swift blow straight to his heart.

"Yeah, she's gone. Joe 'n some tall white-hared guy came by 'bout a month ago. Broke-in in the middle o' the night. Tol' me if I don' help 'em out, that he'd cut her real good..." Cid hesitated. Only one other person knew the rest of the story - Barret. The big man stumbled upon the information during a card game in which Cid tongue had been loosened by alcohol. "An' she's 3 months pregnant."

"Rude, can you pick up the damn phone already!?"

Cursing to himself, Rude hurried back in to the makeshift cabin, whipping his bloody hands on his formerly pristine suit. He didn't have time to care about appearances. The past ten minutes of his work had been particularly annoying with the addition of the constantly ringing PHS that he only now had the time to answer. "What is it?!"

"Is that any kind of way to address not only your superior, but your best friend?" Reno's voice was the exact opposite of Rude's irate one. In the ten minute span he had been calling his fellow Turk, Reno had the time to gather his wits about him and now spoke calmly, despite the shocking news he had. "I've got a bit of a revelation to share with you and Laney. Should be interestin'."

Though Rude did have the reputation for being the silent Turk, the long years of friendship left his leader with an easy feeling around Reno, a feeling that let him speak freely. "With all do respect, Sir, I don't care right now. And where the hell have you been? Or does that bar just not have a television or a radio?"

All thoughts of Tseng were pushed out of Reno's mind by the confusion he was now faced with. "I've been shacked up in some abandoned ranch that doesn't have any connection with the outside world. Just what the fuck's goin' on?"

A sorrowful sigh came across the line. Rude didn't want to say it. It was easier to believe that all of it was just a horrible dream if only he didn't say it out loud. But Reno had to know, and Rude knew that. "It's a real long story. In short, Midgar's been taken to hell and back."

A/N: Yeah, I know, I've been a little overzealous with the cliff hangers lately, but I don't feel like writing any more today, and I know if I don't upload it now, I'll forget about it for another month. Pretty please review!!!


	23. Tragedy in the Shape of a Bullet

A/N: One review last chapter. That's depressing. Well, thank you RenoS, always loyal. Since it looks like I'm losing readers fast, I'll wrap this up soon. This will probably be a big Reno and Vincent chapter. Anywho, read on.

****

Chapter 19: Tragedy in the Shape of a Bullet

"God damnit, Rude! I can't lift this fuckin' thing up by myself!" Reno's face was bright red with the struggle. Who knew steel could be so heavy? 

"Took you fuckin' long enough!" Reno spoke, but didn't bother to look at his fellow Turk. Rather, he simply kept struggling. He didn't bother to watch his language either. He made it a general rule that, in times of crisis, cursing in front of any bi-standers was a bad idea, but this was getting too frustrating for him to worry about what he said.

Elena lay on the ground nearby, holding tightly onto the hand of a weeping woman. "Don't worry, ma'am. We'll have you to a doctor in a jiffy. Just stay with us a little while longer."

Gun shots sprayed through the air, luckily missing their target, who didn't seem to be paying much attention to them. When Cloud reached a temporary hiding spot, for the first time he could recall, he actually wished for Yuffie to be there. Her Leviathan materia would work much better than buckets of water.

"What'll it be, Cloud?!" Joe's distant voice was barely audible over the roar of the flames. "Save the city? Or fight us off and save your own hide!?"

Reno's message to cloud had been slightly misleading, though Cloud had a feeling it wasn't intentional. He just wished he would've known what to expect....

__

"Cloud!" Reno quickly burst into the room that Cloud had deemed his 'bedroom' of sorts. "Put on your damn clothes and get your friends ready!"

After Cloud had sufficiently calmed the frantic Reno, he got the story, or at least what Reno knew of it. "Junon's on fire. Buildings are lighting up like torches left and right. But the big thing is Neo-Midgar. There was a bombing in Old Midgar - shrapnel's everywhere. People are dropping like flies. Some poor bastard just bled to death in Rude's hands!"

That was enough to get Cloud moving, but it wasn't enough to prepare him for the ambush waiting in Junon. Joe and a small army of those genetically altered soldiers gave them a warm welcome - one made out of lead.

"Shudda fuck up!" Cloud thanked his lucky stars that he brought Barret. The Missing Score was quite a weapon - firing at about 5 times the speed of the soldiers' guns. The big man may not have been killing them, but they certainly were left wanting (wanting their limbs back, that is).

A few gunmen ventured a little too close to Cloud for comfort. With reckless abandon, he ran out of his corner, wildly swinging the Ultima Weapon in an arc. A dull thud as he passed let him know he hit his mark. A gray tinted head rolled along the ground, before an accompanying body fell atop it a few seconds later. At least, in a year of inactivity, he hadn't lost his touch in disposing of nameless henchmen.

__

Gawd, I hope the sun rises soon. Yuffie didn't like the idea of looking through rubble for bodies. She _especially_ didn't like being woken up in the middle of the night to go looking through rubble for bodies. And to top it all off, it was still dark out.

__

AND , as if that wasn't enough, Cloud had decided that she stay with Vincent. He was the most responsible after all, and she did have tendency to get herself into sticky situations. _I bet he's loving all this dark, creepy stuff..._

Vincent stopped dead in his tracks as his ears picked up something. He looked around warily until he heard a sigh from in front of him.

"Don't worry, Vinnie, It's probably just the screams of people stuck under shit." This was the third time in the past ten minutes Vincent had stopped because he heard something. Yuffie had yet to see any reason for him to be so paranoid. _Other than the fact that he's always paranoid..._

Vincent curiously gazed at her. When did she start cursing? "You are around Cid and Reno too much for your own good." Vincent was generally opposed to making small talk like this, but quickly learned from walking around with her for a good hour or two, talking kept her from losing her cool.

As he began to walk again, Yuffie joined suit. "A little jealous, Vinnie Valentine??"

The comment was promptly ignored by Vincent. He wanted to keep her from freaking out - he didn't need to start some sophomoric conversation about nonexistent crushes. Plus, he was distracted. Their stalker may not have come out where Vincent could see, but he or she certainly made their presence known to his ears.

Yuffie was convinced that he was only hearing after effects of the attack Midgar had suffered, but he knew better. They were foot steps, and very distinct ones. There was only one person, and from how low the thud of the foot fall was, Vincent ventured to guess that is was a man, and not a small one either.

Then, Vincent paused again to sniff the air. Yuffie had begun to say something to him, but he wasn't listening. What was that smell? _Sweat?_ His ears were at it again. This time he heard light breathing. The intruder had to be close if he could hear that.

The realization came quickly. Vincent rapidly surveyed their location. He and Yuffie stood in an alleyway of sorts, between large piles of debris. This would be a perfect place to attack them.

In one swift move, Vincent pinned Yuffie against one barrier and shielded her with his body as he quickly whipped the Quicksilver into action. A loud shot rang out just as a body fell from some higher ground to stand in front of him. A bit of blood sprayed on Vincent's face from the point blank shot into the attacker's shoulder.

Time froze for Yuffie. She didn't know what it was. Maybe it was how he was willing to risk his life _again_ to save hers. Maybe it was the sensation - the stark contrast between the cold sting of the claw pressed against her back and the warmth of his body pressed against her abdomen and chest. Maybe it was how quickly and calmly he acted, so unlike her. 

Whatever it was, she found herself wrapping her arms around him. Whether it was for protection or as some sort of thank you, she didn't really know. But she knew she didn't want to let go. Even as the gun blast momentarily lit up Vincent's face, and she could see the blood across it, accenting his deathly red eyes, she didn't want to let go. Even as that cold claw began to shove her, and he began to yell something at her, she didn't want to let go.

"Yuffie! Run!" Vincent gave the thief a hard shove back in the direction they had came from, but she only stared back at him, seemingly mystified. Just what he needed: a little girl frozen in place while he fought off someone at least twice his size.

Ash recovered quickly despite the bullet lodged in his shoulder. He was caught off guard to say the least: he was supposed to be doing the ambushing, not the other way around. Using his good arm, Ash sent a fist towards Vincent's temple. Instead of the soft thud of bone against bone and the warmth of fresh blood, he was met by the high pitched twang of bone against metal and the cold of a golden claw.

Yuffie watched as Vincent's skilled claw caught the wild blow. She grimaced as she watch the assailants knee shoot up and make hard contact with Vincent's ribs. The thought that she might've heard a crack was enough to send Yuffie into action.

Dealing out a few wild, flailing blows got the man's attention, like she wanted, but now that she had it, she wasn't sure what to do. Her beloved Conformer was out of the question – it was far too large and bulky for her to use in close combat. She opted for a few martial arts techniques.

Ash was momentarily distracted by this small girl's advances. Although the fists were small, they packed a good sting to them. He imagined one of her boots making contact with his skull would equate to a good deal of pain, but never found out. He easily caught her foot before it hit, sending the air born ninja falling fast to the ground.

A smug smile showed on his face for only the briefest of moments before it was kicked off. The hard bottom of Vincent's left boot sent Ash flying sideways into the opposite barrier. "Run! Now!"

Yuffie was still reeling from the pain throughout her side when Vincent's voice made its way to her. Run? Of course not. She couldn't run and leave him alone to fight this guy. But then again, it wasn't exactly like she had any luck trying to hurt him. _Ok, maybe I'll just run to get help..._

As Yuffie ran, she couldn't help herself - she had to turn back to see how Vincent was doing. Much to her chagrin, his opponent wasn't the kind of person who liked to stay down for very long. Vincent didn't seem to be in any great trouble, but he certainly wasn't taking down_ that_ guy any time soon. _Dear Leviathan, I hope I find someone fast..._

It was like the whole world was on fire. Every step she took greeted her with a heat that was more intense than the last. She could feel her unprotected skin starting to blister and peel. Though she always justified her scantily clad attire with the excuse that less material meant less in the way of her fighting, Tifa would kill for long pants and a jacket right about now.

But she bit back her pain and comfortingly squeezed the hand of the boy the was guiding. She couldn't help but feel inspired by the boy - Tommy, if she recalled correctly. Tommy had stayed with his baby sister, who was crying loudly - clasped protectively to Tifa's chest. Their parents had gone outside to see what all the commotion was about as, unseen by their eyes, the fire spread with dangerous speed. Once out in the street, the local police forbade them, for their own safety, to return inside the apartment building.

She promptly thanked her maker that the two children were only stranded on the 2nd floor. As she hurriedly stepped into the street, Tifa coughed violently, feeling the cold night air like shards of ice inside of her previously burning lungs. She had never felt such a wonderful pain.

"Ma'am! Miss Lockheart!" A man wearing a white helmet with the word "POLICE" written across it in blue waved Tifa over to him. "Miss Lockheart. Mr. Highwind has sent a message."

__

Hey Tif - I managed to get away from the fighting. Cloud needs me to get reinforcement from Midgar. Since I'm gone, he needs your back up

-Cid

Tifa wasn't sure whether to be happy or not. She was, after all, finally able to leave the heat of the fires behind her for the moment, but she couldn't help but wonder which was worse - being in a fire or being in the line of it.

Yuffie came running to the Turks just as Cid was making his landing. Though Reno wasn't exactly a fan of visitors from AVALANCHE, they were the first two people to come into their makeshift clinic that weren't critically injured. He was quite relieved. 

"Reno, Vincent needs help!" Yuffie was flailing her arms wildly as if trying to get his attention, although she was standing right in front of him. "Some big guy. He's HUGE! Well, not that tall. Probably about your height. But he's strong as hell. And he's got short black hair, kinda spikey."

Cid had exited the Highwind in time to hear the description. "Tha' sounds like one of them fuckers from Junon."

Reno's face showed a mixture of recognition and anger. That was the man that shot him. As he looked down at his bandaged arm, his anger grew. "Take me to him."

"Wait!" Yuffie was in the middle of expressing her gratitude when Cid interrupted. "Ain't anyone gonna ask wha' I came all the way back here for!?" A moment of silence told him the answer was a resounding 'no.' "You fucks! We were ambushed! We need some fuckin' help!"

All eyes turned to Reno. Throughout the night, any able bodied person in Neo-Midgar had come to think of Reno as the leader - even Yuffie. "Laney, you think you can handle things here by yourself if I round you up some civilian assistants?"

Elena didn't even bother to look up from the gash she was stitching shut. "Sure. I'll be bored as hell, but I can make it." Could she handle it? After as long she she'd been here tonight, she had this thing down.

"Rude, you're going with him. Take Reeve's little toy and that cat-thing with you. And find 'Lena some help on your way." Rude promptly left the group to carry out his superior's orders. 

After watching Rude leave, Reno took his turn to disappear. He walked somewhat hastily over to Yuffie. "Take me." Yuffie quickly followed the simple command.

Cid watched on with a bit of amazement. Reno certainly knew how to govern his troops. He even had Yuffie obeying his orders - something she would only do for Cloud after several weeks of bitter refusal.

Ash found himself panting. That claw could sure hit like a sledge hammer - a sledge hammer that was faster than a train. Vincent's chest continued to rise and fall at a regular, at rest, pace, but inside he was in just as much pain as his opponent.

All in all, the two men were pretty evenly matched. Ash hit harder than anyone Vincent had faced before, and the man shot to kill. Vincent struck strongly and evenly, but was running circles around Ash in the speed department. One thing Vincent did have over Ash was stamina - a factor quickly showing its importance.

When Ash took a moment to collect his breath, Vincent took advantage. A swift kick to the gut sent what little air Ash had flying from his lungs. Vincent remained calm. He raised a hand to knock Ash from the conscious world - not to end his life. His blood boiled at the thought of the ambush - at the though of sneak attacking him and a small girl. But he would not give in to the bloodlust. He had spent this past year depriving Chaos of the blood it desired - he wouldn't let the demon regain its strength at a time like this.

So, with the though of finishing off his opponent out of his mind, Vincent readied himself to end his fight. That is, until his ears picked up a sound foreign to a battle field - laughter. Vincent paused and scanned the area. It didn't take long for him to find his intruder. 

Her hair flowed in the slight breeze passing through the area. It was long and black, much like his. He could only detect one of her eyes in the lack of light the night gave. It was an odd occurrence, but he didn't dwell on it. As he watched her, she halted her inappropriate laughing fit and brandished her weapon, a katana of medium length. 

In an instant, Judith was by Vincent's side. She moved with ludicrous speed, but Vincent was on his guard. The fact that her speed hadn't caught him (like it had with any other enemy she had come against) left Judith shocked and vulnerable. After his initial sidestep of her advance, Vincent quickly and violently wrapped his human hand around her right wrist. Turks always knew the odds were in favor of a person being right-handed. Slamming her with inhuman force against the nearby rubble resulted in her weapon flying wildly through the air, out of her grip.

Judith winced with pain, but didn't lose a step. Two feet lifted up into a rough kick to Vincent's abdomen. Expecting the move, he tightened his muscles to absorb the blow. He didn't even flinch.

At first, rage took control of her features, but the woman's face soon softened into a smile. "You're even tougher than everyone makes you out to be. I'm impressed."

Vincent ignored her words with a hint of suspicion growing in his mind. She couldn't honestly think he would be distracted by simply talking to him, could she? _No, she isn't a fool. Then what is she getting at? No one who knows what they're doing talks during a fight, unless it's for a reason._

Then the recognition hit him. He had completely been ignoring Ash. The man certainly had recovered from the blow by now. A small stinging sensation came to Vincent's upper back.

Yes, Ash had indeed recovered, but in more than just the physical sense. As he regained his balance and breath, Ash also managed to use the opening to recover a useful tool from a holster under his arm. As soon as his partner finished her sentence, a tranquilizer dart flew straight towards Vincent. It hit its mark perfectly.

Bodies decorated the ground below the Highwind. Rude couldn't help but feel a pang of anger in his heart as he watched the lifeless forms of mercenaries and Junon MP alike pass below him. What was going on here?

Cid had filled him in on the way over, but he still couldn't believe it. Who the hell would do this? Who the hell would set half of a flourishing city ablaze and send in troops to kill off the Military Police? _The same kind of person how would bomb Neo-Midgar..._

As the Highwind landed in a spot seemingly in control of the Junon MP, Red silently thanked his ancestors that only nameless bodies were seen. A death was tragic no matter who it was, but he was grateful that no AVALANCHE personal had been found dead yet. 

"Alright, helpin' Cloud, Tif 'n Barret is numero uno on our list." Cid spoke loudly to make sure he was heard over the distant gunfire. Walking out into the streets, he lead everyone off the now landed Highwind. "Helpin' them means dealin' with Joe 'n those damn zombie lookin' things, so be careful. They ain't far away, just a couple blocks, so get yer weapons ready."

Tifa could barely see through the barrier of disheveled hair and sweat she had been building up. The lights of the city managed to brightly light up the early morning that was still untouched by the sun, but they also glared off the sweat droplet dripping down her hair, obstructing her view even further. 

It hadn't dawned on her how hard dealing a death blow to any of these things would be in hand to hand combat. Her skills proved useful in unarming the soldiers, but her usefulness stopped there. It was rather frustrating.

Cloud, on the other hand, thanked his lucky stars for Tifa. Her swiftly removing the guns from the Mako soldiers had made it a walk in the park for him. A slice here, a chop there and the bastards were down for the count.

Barret had barely broken a sweat. In fact, the only droplets of perspiration on him were around his forearm. The Missing Score may never over heat itself, it certainly got _him_ hot. Despite the amount of ammo he had burned through, the one armed man hadn't disposed of many Mako soldiers. He was an effective fighter when he could simply blow a countless number of holes in his enemies and watch them bleed to death, but accuracy wasn't his forte. _Cid best be bringin' back Valentine, 'n soon. I'm runnin' low on ammo, god damnit!_

Though Vincent wasn't with them, Barret was nonetheless happy to see Cid and company quickly approaching them. Any relief would be appreciated.

Rude quickly jumped into the fray. He hadn't seen action in a long time and he needed some. A quick fist to the face of the nearest soldier let out Rude's pent up regression at his lack of activity recently. A knee to the same victim's stomach released his rage at his leader sending him and Elena home. A punch to the kidney burnt off a bit of frustration with the Neo-Midgar situation. An elbow to the temple made him wonder what the hell it took to take these things down.

Apparently no one filled Rude in on the enhancements of these Mako soldiers, but that didn't stop him. He continued to try to pummel the poor ex-human out of existence until he was interrupted by Cloud's blade. The ex-Soldier saw Rude's trouble and decided to intervene. The sharpened Ultima Weapon cleanly punctured the soldier's forehead, leaving it lifeless.

"Your gun might help. Head shots and little else kill them." Cloud didn't waste any more time talking. He knew Rude was bright and would listen. His presence was needed else where.

He made his way back to Tifa just in time to see her fall. A gunless soldier had her by the throat. He had snuck up on her as she fought a Mako soldier off of Red's back. Her red face was quickly turning a deadlier shade. Sheathing his sword (as to not hurt Tifa in the crossfire), Cloud moved in.

Gloved fingers dug into the attacker's shoulders as Cloud wrestled it to the ground. Tifa utilized the opportunity, sending a fist into the nose bridge of the soldier. Her blow coupled with Cloud's attack let her free. She gasped for the life giving oxygen she desperately needed. As her vision focused again, she saw Cloud drive the Ultima Weapon into the Mako soldier's throat.

She turned her attention to the rest of the group. Everyone seemed to be handling themselves rather well. Barret was still firing unrelentingly. Rude was sending off well placed shots into the heads of the Mako soldiers. Red, Cait and Cid had formed an effective trio. Cait noisily distracted the enemies while Cid and Red disposed of them.

But, with his small army falling fast, Joe still stood tall with a smirk on his face. _What the heck is he so happy about?_

Tifa would have her answer soon, and she wouldn't be pleased.

Vincent found it hard to breath. His overly sensitive sense of smell was a curse at times like these - stuffed in the back of a van that reeked of stale cigarette smoke. This was where he had come to after the tranquilizer had worn off. His overactive immune system managed to fight off the chemical quickly. He awoke shortly after being loaded into the vehicle.

He could've escaped, or at least he reasoned so. He was only restrained by a few chains It might hurt a bit, but he could break through them. He knew better, though. He wasn't sure where he was or who he was with. The best option was to ride the wave just a little bit longer.

The figure in the passenger seat turned to look at him. The first lights of morning had begun to appear, providing more than enough light for Vincent to get an adequate evaluation of one of his captors. The woman's hair, when not caught up in the wind, was rather straight. The soft morning light that reflected off of it did nothing to lighten it's hue - it was still as black as night. The one eye he had perceived earlier was a dark brown. Where he expected to find a second eye, instead he found something much more mechanical. It's metal shined a strange golden color - the same tint as his claw. As she examined him, it moved in correlation with her natural eye. It seemed to be a camera of sorts to make up for the other half of the world she would normally be missing.

The craftsmanship was interesting, but Vincent ignored it. He knew if he looked at that mechanical eye for too long, he'd come to a realization he begged wasn't true.

Luckily, Judith's voice cut off that destructive line of thinking. "Besides being tougher than everyone seems to think, you're cute too. Joe never mentioned that."

__

Joe? Was Joe the one behind all of this? Vincent had his doubts. An ex-Turk living the luxurious life of the most successful Chocobo jockey this world has ever seen didn't make for a disgruntled terrorist very easily. _He must be working for the same person these two are..._

Reno and Yuffie could find Vincent nowhere, but a few of those damned Mako soldiers had no trouble finding them. Reno had quickly opened fire, laying to waste one instantly and sending a bullet through another's arm. Yuffie back flipped to avoid an onslaught of gunfire and retaliated with a skillful toss of her Conformer. An automatic rifle clattered to the ground.

"Yuffie, take cover!" Reno barked out his orders as he dove to a barrier, firing the whole way down. A soft click meant it was time to change his clip. He cursed himself for firing so damn fast all the time. He had a feeling he'd be burning through clips left and right this morning. _God I hope I brought enough..._

A new set of ammo loaded, he darted out of his hiding place. This time, he fired a bit more accurately and watched long enough to see where his bullets hit. Two missed. One hit an arm, making the creature lose control of its gun. Two found there way into the abdomen of the next attacker, not really seeming to phase it. Another missed. One hit its mark - the head. The final bullet lodged itself into the last soldier's leg. It stumbled, but regained it's balance easily.

Another clip done with by the time he reached Yuffie. He hadn't noticed as he ran, but she was actually fighting back - throwing her Conformer wildly from the safety of her shelter. She had grown up a lot in the past year. Reno could remember her hiding behind rocks and shaking like a vibrating bed when he had fought AVALANCHE.

As he fumbled in his pocket for a new clip, Reno let his mind wander. _Why can't more of them be like her? They'd be a fuck of a lot easier to get along with. She's mature enough to fight, and she STILL has a sense of humor..._

His mind snapped back into action as he heard the loud click of his reloaded weapon. He had been doing this so long, his body could do that sort of thing without direction from his mind. As he lined up his next shot from the safety of their barrier, he recalled what Valentine had said. _Only headshots..._

He quickly popped out, but stayed stationary. Two bullets flew trough the air. Where they hit didn't matter - if they weren't headshots, they might as well have been misses. Reno cursed under his breath. How was he supposed to aim with these things emptying an ungodly amount of magazines in his direction?

As he thought, he kept on eye on Yuffie. She was doing a good job of not getting hit, but the slices stretching across the Mako soldiers' skin due to her attacks weren't really getting the job done. He could see the frustration on her face.

Yuffie adeptly caught her Conformer as she ducked back behind the pile of rocks. This was getting annoying. The Conformer wasn't built to cut people's head's off. And the Great Lady of Wutai wasn't meant to hide like some sort of coward. She ran as fast as she could, her hand mechanically launching the conformer into the air. 

She hit her target - the neck of the middle attacker. But the victory would go uncelebrated. As her features began to morph into a smile, to hot sensation of pain took over her body. She couldn't even manage to reach up and catch her Conformer. It flew helplessly past her as her vision began to blur. She fell to her knees as her eyes perceived the morning light creeping over the horizon. It was a beautiful sight to see before passing out.

Joe's smile widened as he saw the approaching van. "Well, children, play time is over."

The van came to a stop and it's back doors flew open. Three sets of eyes (one set glowing red) watched the man from the safety of the vehicle. They watched as he pulled out a strange remote control. 

"I hate to say that AVALANCHE's valiant efforts were wasted, but they were. You all got here about four hours too late. I wouldn't start all this havoc without setting my grand scheme into motion first, would I?" 

His finger made it's way to the first button and pressed. An explosion could be heard in the distance. "You see, before you all arrived to save the day, four very small bombs were placed around the city. Yes, they are very small, and not all that powerful either, but the Materia Converters they're attached to pack quite a punch."

As Joe readied him self to detonate the next bomb, the group froze. Well, everyone except Tifa froze. They had been fighting this whole time, but she had helped save some of Junon's inhabitants. She had seen the burn victims, the children with dead parents, the helpless breathing their last breath. She had witnessed the horrors and would not let them happen again.

She didn't think, Tifa only acted. She ran, fists ready to break every bone in Joe's face. She ran straight into Ash. With Joe providing an ample distraction, the burly man made his way out of the van pretty much undetected. His leg connected full on with Tifa's stomach. She folded and fell to the ground. "So, we meet again?"

Ash's hand rose into the air with Vincent's Quicksilver in it. He pointed it in the general direction of the crowd. "Anyone else want to be a hero? No? Didn't think so."

The gun found its barrel pointed downwards, inches way from the back of Tifa's head. His mouth cracked into a dangerous smile. "Let's call this pay back."

"Ash! Look out!"

Judith's call forced Ash's attention up. He barely had time to react. He saw a blur of motion that called itself Vincent Valentine. The ex-Turk moved at an incomprehendable speed that made his body a blur, undeterred by his still restrained arms. But through the morning sky, those blood red eyes, glowing with an anger Ash had never seen before, were perfectly visible. 

Ash only had time for one action, and he made it a good one. The sound of the shot was deafening. All eyes went wide as Vincent's body fell lifeless to the ground.

A moment of silence hung in the air before his head cracked hard against the pavement. As if on cue, the world erupted into a mass of hysteria and confusion.

Judith hopped over into the driver's seat of the van and sped to the spot where Joe and Ash both stood, stunned into paralysis. She rolled down the window, shock written on her features. "What the hell did you do?"

Ash's mouth opened to defend his actions, but a hard punch to the arm from Joe cut him off. "Shut the fuck up, you idiot! Get his body in the van, _now_! And while your at it, start praying that Hojo doesn't kill you!"

Tifa had braced herself for the blast. She silently prayed for some sort of miracle, and it came. After hearing the gunshot and realizing her brain was still in her head, she looked up with a bit of happiness to see what had happened. What her eyes found quickly beat the joy out of her. A miracle is what she got, but it was not an act of God. No, this "miracle" came from something much more demonic.

Why would God take the life of someone like Vincent Valentine? A man who had saved them all countless times, a man who only yesterday took a bullet in the back for one of their companions, didn't deserve to die like this. Tifa could feel the tears building pressure behind her eyes.

Cid watched in horror as Ash hastily loaded Vincent's lifeless form into the back of the run-down van. Vincent, that annoying bastard, was dead. The only one that figured out his treason. The only one that was perceptive enough to pick up on every flying mistake he made. Vincent would never chastise him for risking their lives on some dangerous maneuver again. 

Cid turned to see Tifa crying. _Fuck that!_ She could mourn all she wants, he was getting even. He ran wildly, but he was too late. They had already entered their escape van. It didn't matter to him. He'd still hacked and slashed their piece of shit car into pieces. 

Cid managed to put a few carvings into the can before it sped off, but he wasn't satisfied. He turned around to look at the rest of the group. Some were yelling, some were staring wide eyed, one was crying, but no one was moving.

"What the fuck are you jackasses doing!?!? Let's go after their skrawny asses!!"

A/N: How'd ya like that twist? Sorry for not making this chapter as Reno-y as I promised. The Reno parts are coming up, but this was turning into a beast of a chapter. I had to cut it off. Sorry this chapter took so long to get up. I've been almost done with it for a while, but I had exams and moving to contend with. Even if you're mad at me for doing such a horrible thing to Vinnie, still review. Please!!


End file.
